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The Canterbury Pilgrims 



A COMEDY 



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The Canterbury Pilgrims 



A COMEDY 



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BY 



PERCY MACKAYE 




THE TABARD INN 



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THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

LONDON : MACMILLAN & CO., Ltd. 
1903 

All rights reserved 



THE LIBRARY OF 
CONGRESS, 

Two Copies Received 

MAR 26 1903 

Copyngnt tniiy 

CLASS JS- XXc. No. 

COPY B. 



T5 






Copyright, 1903, 
By the MACMILLAN COMPANY, 



Set up and electrotyped March, 1903. 






J. S. Cushing & Co. — Berwick & Smith Co. 
Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. 



3(ln JFrienD^ljip 



O KINDLY Muse ! let not my weak tongue falter 

In telling of this goodly company, 

Of their old piety and of their glee ; 

But let a portion of ethereal dew 

Fall on my head, and presently unmew 

My soul ; that I may dare, in wayfaring, 

To stammer where old Chaucer used to sing." 

[Keats: Endymion.l 




DRAMATIS PERSONS 



I. Characters based on " The Canterbury Tales." 

MEN 

Geoffrey Chaucer, Poet at King Richard's Court, and Knight of the 

Shire for Kent. 
The Knight (^Dan Roderigo d^Algezir). 
The Squire {Aubrey), his son. 
The Yeoman, his servant. 
The Monk. 
The Friar {Huherd'). 
The Merchant. 
The Clerk, 
The Man-of-Law. 
The Franklin. 
The Haberdasher, 
The Carpenter, 
The Weaver, 
The Dyer, 
The Tapicer, 
The Cook {Roger Hogge). 
The Shipman {Jack). 
The Doctor. 
The Parson {Jankin). 
The Ploughman. 
The Miller {Bob or Robin). 
The Manciple. 
The Reeve. 

The SUMMONER. 

The Pardoner. 



Members of a Guild. 



vn 



viii DRAMATIS PERSONS 

The Host [Herry Bailey). 
The Canon's Yeoman. 
Joannes, -^ 

Marcus, V The Prioress's Priests. 
Paulus, J 

WOMEN 

The Wife of Bath {Alisojin). 
The Prioress (^Madame Eglantine). 
A Nun, her attendant. 
Mistress Bailey, of the Tabard Inn. 

II. Characters not based on "The Canterbury Tales." 

MEN 

Richard II, King of England. 

John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, uncle of the King, brother-in-law 

of Chaucer, and patron of Wycliffe. 
The Duke of Gloucester, his brother. 
De Vere, Duke of Ireland, Richard's favourite. 
The Archbishop of Canterbury. 

John Wycliffe, the religious reformer, founder of the " Lollards." 
Bottlejohn, Host of the One Nine-pin inn, at Bob-up-and-down. 
His Prentices (^Ned and Dick). 
A Kitchen -BOY. 
A Vender of Relics. 
Another Vender. 
A Black Friar. 
A Grey Friar. 

A Priest of Canterbury Cathedral. 
Heralds. 
Choir-boys. 

WOMEN 

Johanna, Marchioness of Kent. 
Canterbury Brooch-girls. 
Serving-maids. 

Note. — Those designated as Alisoun's " Swains " are the Friar, Cook, Shipman, 
Miller, Manciple, Summoner, Pardoner. 



ACT FIRST 

" BiFEL that, in that seson on a day, 
'^outhwerk at the Tabard as I lay 

"^nden on my pilgrimage 
......... . , with ful devout corage, 

...t night was come in-to that hostelrye 
Wei P}Tne c d twenty in a companye 
Of «.ondn' iolk, by aventure y-falle 
In felav*":] ipe, and pilgrims were they alle, 
That toward Caunterbury wolden ryde." 




ACT I 

Time: April i 6th, 1387. Late afternoon. 

Scene: The Tabard Inn at Southwark, near 

London. 

When the scene opens, about half of the Pilgrims have 
arrived ; the others come in during the first part 
of the act Those already arrived are the Miller, 
Shipman, Cook, Parson, Ploughman, Franklin, Doc- 
tor, Friar, Haberdasher, Carpenter, Weaver, Dyer, 
Tapicer, Clerk, and Chaucer. 

At rise of curtain, the Host is fust moving to receive the 
Knight, Squire, and Yeoman at the door, back. 
Chaucer sits with a big volume on his knee in the 
corner by the fireplace, left; right front, the Miller 
and the Cook are wrestling, while those near look on. 

COOK 
Now, masters, see a miller eat bran I 



MILLER 

I'd liever wrastle with a butterfly. 

SHIPMAN 

Tackle him aft. 

FRANKLIN ^ 

Grip, mon. 
\_They clutch each other ^ 



Corpus 



2 THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

A SERVING-MAID 
\_Aside to Friar.'] 

A diamond pin ? 

FRIAR 

\_Lisps slightly.] 

One of thy glances sticked through my heart ! 
[ Offers her the pin.] 

SERVING-MAID 
The Master is not looking now. 

FRIAR 

A bargain ? 

\_Maid nods, takes the pin, and hurries off to serve at table. 

Friar follows.] 

HOST 
Welcome, Sir Knight ! 

KNIGHT 
Is this the Tabard Inn ? 

HOST 
[^Points through the open door to his swinging sign.] 

Lo yonder, sir, is Herry Bailey's shirt 

Flappeth in the wind ; and this is Herry himself. 

\_Claps his hands for a serving-boy.] 
Knave ! 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 3 

WEAVER 
[^Pounds on the table with a jug, while Carpenter tosses 

dice.~\ 

Ale, here ! Ale ! 

\^A shout from the pilgrims, f'ont.'] 

MILLER 
\_Throwing the Cook.~\ 

Down ! 

SHIPMAN 

Jolly chuck ! 

COOK 
[^Getting to his feet with a bloody nose and fistifig.'] 

'Sblood! Thou — 

FRANKLIN 

Hold, Master Cook, sith thou hast Hcked the platter, 
Go now and wash the gravy off thy nose. 
Look to him, doctor. 

DOCTOR 

Here! 

FRANKLIN 
ITo the Miller.'] 

And thou shalt eat 
A sop of wine with me. By God, thy hand ! 



4 THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

PARSON 
\To Ploughman^ drawing him away^ 
He sweareth like Sathanas. Come ! 

PLOUGHMAN 

Toot, brother ! 
A little swearing saveth from the gallows. 

MILLER 
\_Laughing at the Cook.'] 
His nose is like a tart. 

CLERK 
[_To Chaucer, feasting his eyes on his book.~\ 

Grant pardon, sir. 
In vanitate humanorum rerum, 
I' the world's uproar, 'tis sweet to find a scholar. 

CHAUCER 

A book's a mistress all the world may love 
And none be jilted. 

CLERK 

Then am I in love. 
What is the book } 

CHAUCER 

A medley, like its master. 
Containing many divers characters. 
Bound in one hide. Whoso shall read it through 
He shall behold Troilus and Launcelot 
Sighing in Caesar's face, and Scaramouche 
Painting with grins the back of Aristotle. 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 5 

CLERK 
\_Sparkling7[ 
What! — Aristotle? 

CHAUCER 
\_Risi7ig, hands him the volume.~\ 

I prithee look it through. 

CLERK 

Grammercy — somewhat farther from the piping. 

\_Draws farther away from the Squire, who is begi7ining to 
play a few strains on his flute ^ in front of the fire.'] 

MAN OF LAW 
[^Entering with Merchant.] 
For this recognisance — 

MERCHANT 

The ship was wrecked. 

MAN OF LAW 

Depardieux ! Then your property is flotsam 
And liable to salvage. Therefore you 
Will need me as your man of law. 

KNIGHT 
\^To Chaucer.'] 

I knew 
You were a soldier by your bearing, sir. 
You were at Cressy .-' 



6 THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

CHAUCER 

Nay, Sir Knight, I played 
With tin swords then. Though I have often fought 
At Frenchmen's heels, I was but six years old 
When our Black Edward won his spurs. 



KNIGHT 



Runs time 



So swiftly ? — One and forty years ago ! 

HOST 
\To a serving-maid^ 

Belive, wench ! 

FRIAR 
\Stealing a kiss from her.'] 
In principio — 

HOST 

What's here ? 

MAID 

The gentle friar ! 

HOST 

Gentle flower-de-luce ! 
\_Makes after Friar ^ who dodges behind Mistress Bailey.] 

MISTRESS BAILEY 
[^Shrewishly.] 
Hold, goodman Herry ! 'Tis a friend of mine. 
\_Host retires ; Friar mocks him,] 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

KNIGHT 

I am returning from the Holy Land 
And go to pay my vows at Canterbury. 
This is my son. 

CHAUCER 

Go you to Canterbury 
As well, Sir Squire ? 

\The Squire y putting down his flute ^ sighs deeply. '] 

KNIGHT 

My son, the gentleman 
Accosts thee! 

SQUIRE 
Noble gentleman — Ah me ! 
\_He turns awayJ] 

CHAUCER 
\_FoUows him.~\ 

My dearest heart and best beloved foe, 
Why liketh you to do me all this woe ? 
What have I done that grieveth you, or said. 
Save that I love and serve you, high and low? 
And whilst I live I will do ever so. 
Wherefore, my sweet, do not that I be dead ; 
For good and fair and gentle as ye be, 
It were great wonder if but that ye had 
A thousand thousand servants, good and bad : 
The most unworthiest servant — I am he ! 



'iS^ THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

SQUIRE 
Sir, by my lady's grace, you are a poet 
And lover, like myself. We shall be brothers. 
But pardon, sir, those verses are not yours. 
Dan Chaucer wrote them. Ah, sir, know you Chaucer } 

CHAUCER 

Twelve stone of him ! 

SQUIRE 

Would / did ! Is he not 
An amorous divinity } Looks he 
Like pale Leander, or some ancient god } 

CHAUCER 

Sooth, he is like old Bacchus round the middle. 

SQUIRE 

How acts he when in love } What feathers wears he } 
Doth he sigh oft .? What lady doth he serve } 
Oh! 

\At a smile from Chaucer, he starts back and looks at him 
in awe; then hu?'ries to the Knight. Chaucer walks 
a^nong the pilgrims, talking with them severally 7^ 

MILLER 
\_To Franklin."] 
Ten gallon ale } God's arms ! I take thee. 

MAN OF LAW 

What's 
The wager } 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

FRANKLIN 

Yonder door ; this miller here 
Shall break it, at a running, with his head. 
The door is oak. The stakes ten gallon ale. 

SHIPMAN 

Ho, then, I bet the miller shall be drunk. 

MERCHANT 

What bet } 

SHIPMAN 

Twelve crown upon the miller. 

MERCHANT 

Done. 

\^At the door appears the Prioress, accompanied by a Nun 
and her three Priests, one of whom^ Joannes, carries a 
little pup. The Host hurries up with a reverence,~\ 

HOST 

Welcome, my lady dear. Vouchsafe to enter 
Poor Herry Bailey's inn. 

PRIORESS 
Merci. 

HOST 
\_To a sefvifig-boy.'\ 

Knave, show 
My lady Prioress to the blue chamber 
Where His Majesty, King Richard, slept. 



lO THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

PRIORESS 

Joannes, 

Mark, Paulus, stay ! have you the little hound 

Safe ? 

JOANNES 
Yes, my lady. 

PRIORESS 

Carry him before. 
But carefully. 

MILLER 
\To Yeoman.'] 
Here, nut-head, hold my hood. 

YEOMAN 

Wilt try bareheaded } 

FRIAR 

'Mass! 

FRANKLIN 

Ho, for a skull ! 
Miller, thou art as tough a knot as e'er 
The Devil tied. By God, mine ale is spilled. 

\_The priests and Prioress have Just reached the door, left 
front, which the Miller is preparing to ram.] 

PLOUGHMAN 

The door is locked. 

JOANNES 

But, sir, the Prioress — 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS li 

SHIPMAN 

Heigh ! Clear the decks ! 

S^The Miller, with clenched fists, and head doubled over, runs 

for the door.~\ 

YEOMAN 

Harrow ! 



PARSON 



Run, Robin. 



GUILD-MEN 
\_Rise fro7ti their diceJ] 

Ho! 

[ With a crash, the Miller's head strikes the door and splits 
it. At the shock, he redounds against Joannes, a7id 
reaching to save himself from falling, seizes the puppy. '\ 

MILLER 

A twenty devils ! 

GUILD-MEN 
\_All but the Weaver, clambering over the table. '\ 
Come on ! 

PLOUGHMAN 
\To the Miller. '\ 

What aileth thee ? 

MILLER 
The priest hath bit my hand. 



12 THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

JOANNES 

Sweet sir, the puppy — 
It was the puppy, sir. 

MILLER 

Wring me its neck. 

PRIORESS 

Alas, Joannes — help ! 

MILLER 

By Corpus bones ! 
Give me the cur. 

PRIORESS 

St. Loy ! Will no one help ? 

CHAUCER 

Madame, what may I do } 

PRIORESS 

My little hound — 
The churl — My little hound ! The churl will hurt it. 
If you would fetch to me my little hound — 

CHAUCER 

Madame, I'd fetch you Cerberus from hell. 

MILLER 

Lo, masters ! See a dog's neck wrung ! 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 13 

CHAUCER 

\_Breaking through the crowds seizes the Miller by the throatJ] 

Which dog's ? 
MILLER 

Leave go ! — 'Sdeath ! Take the whelp, a devil's 
name. 

CHAUCER 

Kneel ! Ask grace of this lady here. 

MILLER 

\_Sullenly.'] 

What lady .? 

CHAUCER 

Of her whom gentles call St. Charity 
In every place and time. — 

\_Turns then towards Prioress. "] 

What other name 
This lady bears, I have not yet been honoured 
With knowing. — Kneel ! 

MILLER 
\_Morosely ; kneels.'] 

Lady, I axe your pardon. 

CHAUCER 

Madame, your little hound is safe. 



/ 



14 THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

PRIORESS 

\_Nestles the little hound with tender effusiveness ; then turns 

shyly to Chaucer.~\ 

Merci ! 
My name is Madame Eglantine. 

[^Hurries out, left,~\ 

CHAUCER 

\_Aside.'\ 

Hold, Geoffrey! 
Yon beastie's quaking side thumped not as thine 
Thumps now. And wilt thou ape a little hound ? 
Ah, Madame Eglantine, unless ye be 
To me, as well as him, St. Charity ! 

FRANKLIN 

Who is the man .'' 

MILLER 

The Devil, by his eye. 
They say King Richard hath to court a wrastler 
Can grip ten men. I guess that he be him. 

COOK 
Ho ! milksop of a miller ! 

MILLER 
\_Seizing him.'\ 

Say it twice ; 
What } 

COOK 

Nay, thou art a bull at bucking doors. 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 15 

FRANKLIN 

Let ribs be hoops for twenty gallon ale 
And stop your wind-bags. Come. 

MILLER 
[ With a grin, follows the Franklin?^ 

By Corpus bones ! 

SHIPMAN 

Twelve crown. 

MERCHANT 

Twelve, say you } See my man of law. 

WEAVER 

\_Springs to his feet.'] 
The throw is mine! 

DYER 

A lie ! When we were away 
You changed the dice ! 

WEAVER 

My throw was cinq and three. 

DYER 

A lie ! Have it in your gullet ! 

\_Draws his knife. They fight.'] 

CARPENTER 

Part them ! 

TAPICER 

Back! 



1 6 THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

HOST 
Harrow ! Dick Weaver, hold ! Fie, Master Dyer, 
Here's not a dyeing stablishment ; we want 
No crimson cloth — Clap hands now: Knave, more 
ale. 

CHAUCER 
\To the Doctor. '\ 
If then, as by hypothesis, this cook 
Hath broke his nose, it follows first that we 
Must calculate the ascendent of his image. 

DOCTOR 
Precisely ! Pray proceed. I am fortunate 
To have met a fellow-doctor at this inn. 

CHAUCER 
Next, treating him by magic natural, 
Provide him well with old authorities, 
As Esculapius, Diescorides, 
Damascien, Constantinus, Averrois, 
Hippocrates, Serapion, Razis, 
Bernardus, Galienus, Gilbertinus — 

DOCTOR 

But, sir, the fellow cannot read — 

CHAUCER 

Why, true ; 
Then there remains but one sure remedy, 
Thus : bid him, fasting, when the moon is wane, 
And Venus rises in the house of Pisces, 
To rub it nine times with a herring's tail. 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS ly 

DOCTOR 
Yea, Pisces is a fish. — I thank you, sir, 

\_IIe hurries off to the Cook, whose nose he has patched^ 

HOST 

\_To the Reeve, who enters 7\ 

God save thee, Osewold ! What's o'clock ? Thou 

look'st 
As puckered as a pear at Candlemas. 

REEVE 
There be too many folk i' the world ; and none 
Is ripe till he be rotten. 

\^Sits at tableJ] 

Penny' orth ale ! 



My lord, father ! 



SQUIRE 
KNIGHT 

Well, son } 



SQUIRE 
\_Looking at Chaucer. ~\ 

Sir, saw you ever 
So knightly, sweet, and sovereign a man. 
With eyes so glad and shrewdly innocent } 
O, when I laid my hand in his, and looked 
Into his eyes, meseemed I rode on horse 
Into the April open fields, and heard 
The larks upsinging in the sun. Sir, have 
You guessed who 'tis .-* 



1 8 THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 



Some valiant officer. 



KNIGHT 

To judge him by his speech, 



SQUIRE 
Nay, / have guessed. 

\^A merry jingling of bells outside. Enter the Monky holding 
up a dead swan.~\ 

MONK 
Soft ! Handle not the fat swan. Give it me. 
Bailey, I'll learn thy cook to turn a spit. 

\_Exity right. Enter^ left, Joannes^ 

CHAUCER 
\_To Ploughman^ 

Aye, man, but weather is the ploughman's wife 
To take for worse or better. If thy loam 
Be thin, and little snow, which is the best 
Manure, then thou must dung thy furrows twice 
'Twixt Michelmas and March. 

PLOUGHMAN 

Aye, but — 



This letter . . . 



JOANNES 

Sir Knight, 

CHAUCER 
What ! from whom } 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 19 

PLOUGHMAN 

Toot ! Canst thou read, mon ? 

JOANNES 
This letter, sir, my Lady Prioress — 

CHAUCER 

From Madame Eglantine? Waits she an answer? 

JOANNES 

So please you, sir. 

CHAUCER 

Sweet saints ! 
\Takes the letter and reads ^ aside. '] 

PLOUGHMAN 
[ Watches Chaucer curious iy~\. 

Aye, 'e can read it. 
\_Outside, is heard the distant voice of the Wife of Bath 
( Alisoun) , Joified in chorus by the Pardoner, Manciple, 
and SuMMONER, singing.'] 

ALISOUN 

When folk o' Faerie 

Are laughing in the laund, 

And the nix pipes low in the miller's pond. 
Come hither, love, to me. 

[ Chorus. "] 

With doe and with dove. 
Come back to your love. 
Come hither, love, to me. 



20 THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

CHAUCER 

\_Reading the Prioress's letter, as the so7ig outside sounds 

nearer.~\ 

"Monsieur I'inconnu Chevalier — 

These greetings shall apprise you that the little 
hound is convalescent, and now suffereth from noth- 
ing save a sore necessity for nourishment. Where- 
fore, being cast in holy pilgrimage upon this revelous 
inn, I appeal once more, gentil monsieur, to your hon- 
ourable chivalry, of which I beseech you this favour, to 
wit ; that you shall see prepared and delivered into the 
hands of Joannes, my priest, a recipe as follows : — 

One ounce of wastel-bread, toasted a pleasant 

brown ; 
One little cup of fresh milk ; 
Soak the former in the latter, till the sand-glass 

shall be run half out ; 
Then sprinkle sparingly with sweet root of 

beet, rubbed fine. 

Serve neatly. 

Madame Eglantine." 

SHIPMAN 
\_At the door, to Friar, who is starting to flirt with a third 

serving-maid.^ 

Hist! Who's yon jolly Nancy riding here, 
With them three tapsters tooting up behind } 

FRIAR 

By sweet St. Cuthbert ! 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 21 

SHIPMAN 

Ha ! ye ken the wench. 

FRIAR 

The wench ? Oho ! Thou sayest well. List, sir ; 

List, gentle Mariner ! Thy wench hath been 

A five times wedded and five hundred woo'd ; 

Hath rode alone to sweet Jerusalem 

And back more oft than Dick-the-Lion's-Heart ; 

And in her right ear she is deaf as stone. 

Because, she saith, that once with her right ear 

She listened to a lusty Saracen. 

She was not born a-yesterday, yet, by 

The merry mass, when she comes in the door, 

She maketh sweet-sixteen as stale as dough. 

SHIPMAN 

She looks a jolly Malkin. What's her name.'' 

FRIAR 

Dame Alisoun, a cloth-maker of Bath. 

CHAUCER 
\^Reading?^ 

" P.S. Let not the under-side be toasted as brown as 

the upper. 
P. P.S. The milk should not be skimmed." 

\_Laughs to himself. '\ 

" A little cup of milk and wastel-bread ! " 
Haha ! — A gentle heroine for a tale ! 
My heart is lost. 



22 THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

\To Joannes^ who is trembling at the Miller. '\ 

What, fellow, art thou scared ? 
Come with me to the kitchen. 

JOANNES 
{^Follows timidly.'] 

Ben'cite ! [Exetmt.] 

\_Oiitside the song, " Come hither, Love,'^ bursts into chorus. 
Enter the Wife of Bath, astride a small white ass, 
which is fancifully caparisoned like a fairy creature. 
Spurs jingle on the Wife's boots, and on her head is a 
great round hat. Followed by the Summoner, Pardoner, 
and Manciple, she 7'ides into the middle of the floor and 
reins up.~\ 

ALISOUN 

Whoa-oop ! — God save this merry company ! 

\_A commotion.'] 
By God, I ween ye ken not what I am : 
I am the jolly elf-queen, and this is 
My milk-white doe, whereon I ride as light 
As Robin Good-boy on a bumble-bee ; 
\_Indicating the ass^s ears.] 

These be his wings. — 

And lo — my retinue ! 

These here be choir-boys from Fairy-land. 

Come, Pardoner, toot up my praise anon. 

PARDONER and ALISOUN [sing'] 

When sap runs in the tree. 

And the huntsman sings " Halloo ! " 

And the greenwood saith : *' Peewit ! Cuckoo ! " 

Come hither, love, to me. 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 23 

SWAINS AND ALISOUN 
With turtle and plover, 
Come back to your lover. 
Come hither, love, to me. 

ALISOUN 

Now, lads, the chorus ! 

[ The Swains and Aiisoun, joined by several other pilgrims^ 

repeat chorus.'] 

MILLER 
Nails and blood ! Again ! 

FRIAR 

Encore ! 

ALISOUN 

Nay lads, the song hath dried my whistle. 
The first that fetches me a merry jug 
Shall kiss my lily-white hand. 
\_The Swains f with a shoui, scramble to get ale of the tapster.] 

SWAINS 

Here, ale here ! ale ! 

HOST 

Slow, masters ! Turtle wins the rabbit race. 

MILLER 

\^Offers his tankardy tipsily.] 
Give's thy hand, girl. 



24 THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

ALISOUN 
Thou art drunk ! 'Tis empty. 

MILLER 

Well, 'tis a jug. Ye said ** a merry jug." 

ALISOUN 

Pardee ! I'll keep my word. 

MILLER 
\_Grinning, raises his face to her.'] 
A kiss ? 



ALISOUN 

A smack ! 
\_E/ings the tankard at his headJ] 



MILLER 
\_Dodging it.~\ 

THE OTHER SWAINS 
[Feil-7netl.'] 
Here ! here ! Take mine ! 



Harrow ! 



FRIAR 

Drink, sweet Queen Mab ! 

\_Re-enter Chaucer and Joannes. Chaucer carries in his 

hand a crock.] 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 25 

ALISOUN 
\To the Friar. '\ 

What, Huberd, are ye there ? Ye are too late, 
All o' ye ! The elf-queen spies her Oberon. 

[ Wheeling the ass to confront Chaucer. '\ 

By God, sir, you're the figure of a man 
For me. — Give me thy name. 

CHAUCER 

Your Majesty, 
This is most sudden. Dare I hope you would 
Have me bestow my humble name upon you t 

ALISOUN 

Make it a swap, mon. Mine is Alisoun, 
And lads they ken me as the Wife of Bath ! 

CHAUCER 

My name is Geoffrey. When the moon is full, 
I am an elf and skip upon the green ; 
By my circumference fairy-rings are drawn, 
And lasses ken me as the Elvish Knight. 

SQUIRE 
\_Aside.'\ 
Father, 'tis he — the poet laureate ! 

KNIGHT 
Brother-in-law to John of Gaunt ? 



26 THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

SQUIRE 

The same. 

SHIPMAN 
\^Offers his mug again ^ 
Take this, old girl. 

ALISOUN 

The devil take a tar. 
\_Snatches the crock from Chaucer's hand.~\ 
I'll take a swig from Geoffrey's. — Holy Virgin ! 
What pap is this here } Milk and wastel-bread } 

CHAUCER 
Nay, 'tis a kind of brew concocted from 
The milky way, to nurse unmarried maids. 

ALISOUN 
[^Hands it back quickly. "] 
Saints 1 None o' that for me. 

CHAUCER 
\_Aside to Joannes.'] 

Bear it to your mistress. 

ALISOUN 

\_Aside.'] 
Mistress } Aha ! — A woman in the case. 

\^Aloud.'] 
Give us your hand, Sir Knight o' the Wastel-bread, 

And help me light adown. — 

What ! Are ye afeared 
To take me in your arms } 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 2/ 

CHAUCER 

Sweet Alisoun, 
Thou art a vision of the ruddy Venus 
Bright pommelled on the unspotted Pegasus, 
And I am Ganymede, thy stable boy. 
\He helps her to alight.~\ 

ALISOUN 
Well swung ! What think ye of my jolly heft ? 

CHAUCER 

Thou art a very dandelion seed 
And I thy zephyr. 

MILLER 
\_To the Swains^ 
'Sblood ! He steals our wench. 

SQUIRE 
[^Approaching Chaucer diffidently, speaks under his breath.'] 
Great Master Chaucer. 

CHAUCER 

Hush ! Speak not my name. 
\_Takes the Squire aside ^ 

ALISOUN 
Halloa ! what's struck this jolly company 1 
Ye're flat as stale ale. Master Summoner, what's 
The matter now ? Ye should be glad at heart 
To wear so merry a bonfire in your face. 



28 THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

SUMMONER 
Was it for this I sang, '' Come hither, Love " ? 

COOK 

Aye, was it for this ? 

ALISOUN 

What, Roger Hogge, yourself ? 
How long, bird, have you worn a gallows-warrant 
Upon your nose ? 

\The others hoot^ 

COOK 

As long. Dame Alisoun, 
As you have had a hogshead for a sweetheart. 

ALISOUN 

Geoffrey, ye mean ? Ho ! Are ye jealous there ? 

\To the Shipfnan.~] 

Jack, too, and hast a wife to home at Dartmouth ? 
Hark, lads ! This Jealousy is but a ninny ; 
For though there be a nine-and-twenty stars, 
Yet Jealousy stares only at the moon. 
Lo ! I myself have made a vow 'twixt here 
And holy Thomas' shrine to twig a husband ; 
But if I like this fellow Geoffrey, can't 
I like ye all } By God, give me your fists ; 
And I will tip ye a secret. 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 29 

\_Mysteriou5ly.'\ 

I am deef ! 
Ye ken all great folks have some great defect : 
Cupid is blind and Alisoun is deef ; 
But Cupid — he can wink the t'other eye, 
And AHs — she can ope the t'other ear. 

FRIAR 

Sweet Alis, which is deaf ? 

ALISOUN 

I said, the t'other. 

FRIAR 

Nay, but which ear, the right or left .•* 

ALISOUN 

Love, if 

Ye guess the right ye won't be left : how's that } 
So, fellows, ye can knock at either door ; 
And while Tom standeth scraping the front mat. 
By God then, Dick, go rap at the side porch ; 
The t'other door is locked ; I say not which. 

\_Laughitig and boxing their ears as they try, in turn, to whis- 
per to her, she leads them to the ale-barrel, where they 
drink.~\ 

FRIAR 

Sweet brethren, drink with me to t'other ear ! 



ALISOUN 



ALISOUN 

Here's pot-luck to you all, lads ! 



30 THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

PARDONER 
[ Who has spread out his relics in another part of the room.~\ 

Pardons ! pardons ! 
Offer your nobles now ; spoons, brooches, rings : 
Radix malorum est cupiditas. 

CHAUCER 
\_Aside to SquireJ] 
Pray, speak no word of who I am. I ride 
To Canterbury now, to bid farewell 
My kinsman, John of Gaunt. But on the road, 
I travel here incognito. 

SQUIRE 

But, sir, 
At least, beseech you, let me guard your person ; 
So mean an inn, such raw folk, must offend 
King Richard's royal poet. 

CHAUCER 

Not so, lad. 
To live a king with kings, a clod with clods, 
To be at heart a bird of every feather, 
A fellow of the finch as well as the lark, 
The equal of each, brother of every man : 
That is to be a poet, and to blow 
Apollo's pipe with every breath you breathe. 
Therefore, sweet boy, don't label me again 
In this good company. 

SQUIRE 

I will not, sir — 

\_Aside.'] 
A god ! A very god ! 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 31 

PARDONER 

Here's relics ! pardons ! 
Offer your nobles now ; spoons, brooches, rings ! 
Lordings, step up ! Pardons from Rome all hot. 
\_A crowd gathers round him.'] 



What's this ? 



PARSON 
\Lifting a relic] 



PARDONER 

That, master, is the shoulder-bone 
Of a sheep once slaughtered by a holy Jew. 
Take heed, lordings, take heed ! What man is here 
That hath to home a well } 

SEVERAL 

I! I! 

PARDONER 

Pay heed ! 
Let any man take this same shoulder-bone 
And chuck it in his well, and if he own 
A cow, or calf, or ass, which hath the pox, 
Take water from that well, and wash its tongue. 
Presto ! It shall be well again. 

•PLOUGHMAN 
\To the Parson 7\ 

By Mary, 
I'll try it on Mol. 



32 THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

PARDONER 
Hark, lordings, what I say ! 
If also the goodman that owns the beasts 
Shall, fasting, before cock-crow, drink three draughts 
Of that same well, his store shall multiply. 

PARSON 

My word ! 

FRANKLIN 

Nay, that's worth while. 

PARDONER 

List what I say ! 
Also, if any wife shall boil a broth 
Of this same bone, it healeth jealousy. 

ALISOUN 
Ho ! give it me ! And every fellow here 
Shall suck the marrow-bone. 

PARDONER 

What will you offer } 

ALISOUN 
\Throws a kiss.'\ 

That's all ye get o' me. 

PARSON 

I'll give a florin. 

PARDONER 

Done, Master Parson. Listen, lordings, list ! 

This is a piece o' the sail St. Peter had 

When he walked on the sea ; and lo ! this cloth — 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 33 

ALISOUN 



A pillow-case 



PARDONER 

This is the Virgin's veil. 
And in this crystal glass behold — 

ALISOUN 

Pig's bones 

\_Slaps Chaucer on the shoulder.'] 
What, Geoffrey lad ! Which will ye liever kiss, 
A dead saint's bones, or a live lass — her lips ? 
\_E7iter, L., the Prioress.'] 

CHAUCER 

Why, Alisoun, I say all flesh is grave-clothes, 
And lips the flowers that blossom o'er our bones ; 
God planted 'em to bloom in laughter's sunshine 
And April kissing-showers. 

\_Laughing, he kisses Alisoun and faces the Prioress.] 

St. Charity ! 

ALISOUN 
Haha ! That time I had thee on the rump. 
\She calls the Friar aside^ R.] 

PRIORESS 
[^Starting to go?^ 
Je vous demande pardong, Monsieur. 

D 



34 THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

CHAUCER 

Madame, 
Qu'est ce que je puis faire pour elle ? 

PRIORESS 

Rien, rien. 

CHAUCER 

Madame, mais si vous saviez comme je meurs 
De vous servir — 

PRIORESS 

You speak patois, Monsieur; 
/ studied French in Stratf ord-at-the-Bowe. 

CHAUCER 

Your accent is adorably — unique. 

PRIORESS 
\_Is about to melt, but sees AlisounJ] 

And you a gentilhomme — at least I thought so 
When as you saved my little hound — Ah, sir ! 

CHAUCER 

Adam was our first father : I'm her brother. 

PRIORESS 

You meant no more ? 

CHAUCER 

Her brother and your servant, 
Madame. And for the rest, I ride to Canterbury : 
I will absolve me at St. Thomas' shrine. 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 35 

PRIORESS 
\^Eagerly.'\ 
Go you to Canterbury ? 

CHAUCER 

With the rest. 

PRIORESS 
Oh ! I am glad — that is, I came to ask you. 
Know you, Monsieur, where Hes upon the way 
A httle thorp men call Bob-up-and-down ? 

CHAUCER 

Right well — we pass it on the road. 

PRIORESS 

We do } 
Merci. 

[ Going.'] 

MILLER 
\_Amtd uproar, drinks to Alisoun.~\ 

Lend me thy t'other ear. 

[^Startled, the Prioress returns to Chaucer. Behind them, 
the Friar, at a sign from Alisoun, listeiis unobserved/] 

PRIORESS 

You see — 
I expect to meet my brother on the road. 
He is returning from the Holy Land ; 
I am to meet him at the One Nine-pin, 
A tavern at Bob-up-and-down. But — 



36 THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

CHAUCER 

But? 

PRIORESS 
I have not seen him since I was a child. 
I have forgotten how he looks. 

CHAUCER 

He is 
Returning from the Holy Land ? 

PRIORESS 

And has 

His son with him, for squire. He is a knight. 

CHAUCER 
\_Aside, looking at the Kiiight and Squire. '\ 
A son — his squire .'' Good Lord ! 

PRIORESS 

And so, Monsieur, 

I'm boldened by your courtesy to ask 

Your help to find him at Bob-up-and-down, 

Till which — your kind protection on the road. 

\More uproar^ R^ 

CHAUCER 

But — 

PRIORESS 

Have I asked too much } 

CHAUCER 

Madame, I am honoured. 
\^Hesitatingly^ 
How, then, am I to recognise your brother.? 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 37 

PRIORESS 
He wears a ring, on which is charactered 
The letter " A," and after, writ, in Latin, 
The same inscription as is fashioned here 
Upon my brooch. I may not take it off, 
For I did promise him to wear it always. 
But look, sir, here's the motto. Can you read it } 

\^She extends her hand, from the bracelet of which dangles a 
brooch. The Friar draws nearer.'] 

CHAUCER 
I thank you. 

[^Reads.] 

"Amor vincit omnia." 

[^Looking at her.] 

" Love conquers all." 

PRIORESS 

C'est juste. Monsieur. Adieu ! 
\_Exitj Z.] 

FRIAR 
\_Making off to Alisoun.] 
Hist ! ** Amor vincit omnia," Sweet Alis ! 
\^After talking aside with Alisoun he goes to the Knight. ] 

CHAUCER 
\^Aside^ looking at the Knight and Sqtiire.] 
A morning's canter to Bob-up-and-down ! 
"Till which — my kind protection on the road." 
When last they met, she was a little child ; 
Besides, I will make verses for his son. 



38 THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

A morning's canter — time, the month of April — 
Place, Merry England — Why not Lord Protector 
Geoffrey ? Her brother ! What's a suit of armor? 
Nay ! " Amor vincit omnia." 

\Turns away.'] 

FRIAR 
[71? f/ie Knight J whose finger-ring he examines^ 

How quaint, sir! 
A crownM ** A " and underneath a motto. 

KNIGHT 

Quite so. 

FRIAR 

Merci ! 

\_Re turns quickly to Alisoun.'\ 

ALISOUN 

Her brother — the One Nine-pin } 



To-morrow. 

Good. 



FRIAR 

ALISOUN 

FRIAR 

Sweet Alisoun — my pay ? 



ALISOUN 

Saith holy Brother Huberd } Love's reward 
Is service. 

\_Asidej eyeing Chaucer ^ who passes her,] 

Corpus Venus ! What a figure ! 
I'll woo him. Ay ; but first to rid me of 
These other fellows. 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 39 

{^To the Friar. '\ 

Hist! 

In Peggy's stall — 
Peggy's my milk-white doe — in Peggy's stall, 
Thou' It find another jolly beggar, waits 
To dun me. 

FRIAR 

Ho ! A rendezvous ? 

ALISOUN 

A trysting. 
Go, for my love, and play the wench for me. 
And nab him by the ears until I come. 

FRIAR 

St. Cupid, I am game. In Peggy's stall ? 

\_Exit.'\ 

\_Alisoun whispers aside individually to the Shipman and 

Manciple, who exeunt at different doors."] 

CARPENTER 

Sack } Sack in the cellarage ^ 

WEAVER 

Come on, let's tap it. 
\_Exeunt with a number of others.] 

SUMMONER 
\^At table, trying to rise.] 
Qu — questio quid juris } 

COOK 

Now he's drunk 
You'll get no more from him but " hie, hac, hoc." 



40 THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

ALISOUN 
\^Aside to the Miller^ 
And hold him till I come. 

MILLER 

In Peggy's stall ? 
His ears shall be an ell long ! — Pull his ears ! 

\_Exit.'\ 

CLERK 
\_Dazedly to Chaucer^ returning him his book.~\ 

I thank you, sir. Is this the Tabard Inn ? 
So then I'm back again. Such mighty voyages 
The mind sails in a book ! 

\_He walks slowly forth into the air. Chaucer sits again by 
the fireplace, with the book on his knees.^ 

ALISOUN 
l^Aside to the Cook.'] 

Hold fast, and wait. 



In Peggy's stall.? 



COOK 
ALISOUN 

Aye. 

COOK 

Ears for nose. Bob Miller. 
[^Exit.'] 

CHAUCER 
[Aside.] 
In Peggy's stall, 
*' Love conquers all." 

\_Except for the drunken Summoner, Alisoun and Chaucer 

are now alofie.] 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 41 

ALISOUN 
\To the Summoner, lifting his head from the table. '\ 
Ho, cockerel ! Perk up thy bill. 

SUMMONER 

Quid juris ? 
ALISOUN 

Cluck ! Cluck ! How pretty Red-comb chucketh. 

Hark! 
\_Throwing her arms round his neck^ she whispers in his ear.~\ 

SUMMONER 

A pax ! What did a' say ? A pax upon him. 
A' said a'd pull my ears — in Peggy's stall.-' 
By questio ! a brimstone-cherub — me ! 

\_Rising.~\ 
Quid juris ! Blood shall spurt. By quid ! His nose 
Shall have a pax. By nails ! A bloody quid ! 

\_Seizing up from the table a round loaf for a shield and a 
long loaf for a sword, he reels out.'] 

ALISOUN 
{^Laughing.'] 

So, Peggy, they shall woo thy lily-white hoof, 
While Alisoun doth keep her rendezvous. 

[ Comes over to Chaucer^ 
Ho, candle ! Come out from thy bushel. 



CHAUCER 
\Peering over the edge of his book^ 

'Tis a dark world to shine in ; I will read. 



Nay, 



42 THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

ALISOUN 
A book ! Toot ! My fifth husband was a clerk ; 
He catched more learning on his head than in it. 
What is't about ? 

CHAUCER 

The wickedness of woman. 

ALISOUN 
A man, then, wrote it. If you men will write, 
We wives will keep ye busy. Read's a snack. 

CHAUCER 
\_Pretending to read.'] 

" Whoso that builds his mansion all of mallows, 
Whoso that spurs his bhnd horse over the fallows, 
Whoso that lets his wife seek shrines and hallows, 
Is worthy to be hanged on the gallows." 

^ ALISOUN 

Chuck that "to another dog. My man is dead. 

CHAUCER 
\_Imperturbably7\ 
" A lovely woman, chaste, is like a rose ; 
Unchaste, a ring of gold in a sow's nose." 

ALISOUN 
Lo, what a pretty preaching pardoner ! 
" Offer your nobles now ; spoons, brooches, rings ! " 
Cork up thy froth, a devil's name ! Come, play. 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 43 

CHAUCER 
" Better it is to dwell high on the roof 
Than down i' the house where woman wields reproof." 
O what a Hst of ladies ! What a world ! 
Hark, Alisoun ! and after thou hast heard, 
Repent, and cease to be a woman. Hark ! 
" Who first obeyed the snake's advice, to thieve 
The apple from God's Eden } — Mother Eve." 

ALISOUN 

That's Adam's whopper. He stole it and hid in's 

throat : 
Feel o' your own ; the apple sticks there yet. 

CHAUCER 
\_Dramatically.'\ 

" Who from great Samson's brow hath slyly shorn 
His strength } Delila, answer to thy scorn. 
O Hercules ! What woman-shaped chimaera 
Gave thee the poisoned cloak } Thy Deianira. 
O pate of Socrates ! Who from the steepy 
Housetop upset the slop-pail } Thy Xantippe ! 
Yea, speeding her lover through the dark finestra, 
Who hath her husband slain, but Clytemnestra! 
Thou, too, O Cleopatra — " 

ALISOUN 
\Tearing a page out of the book, boxes Chaucer on the cheek.'] 

Hold thy gab ! 
A devil fetch thy drasty book ! 



44 THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

CHAUCER 

Hold, hqld^. 
Dame Alls ! gentle Alisoun — 

\_Re covers the torn page. '\ 

ALISOUN 

Hoot-toot ! 

Are ye so dainty with a dirty parchment 

And so slipshod to smirch our reputations ? 

You men ! God's arms ! What ken ye of true 

women ? 

You stuff one doll and name it Modesty, 

And bid her mince and giggle, hang her head 

And ogle in her sleeve ; another poppet 

You make of snow and name St. Innocence : 

She sits by moonlight in a silver night-gown 

And sighs love-Latin in a nunnery. 

By Corpus bones ! is not a mare a horse } 

A woman is but man ; and both one beast — 

A lusty animal, for field or harness. 

But no ! ye sanctify a squeamish mule ; 

And when an honest wench, that speaks her mind, 

Meets a fine lad and slaps him on the buttock. 

And says out plat : " Thou art a man : I love thee — " 

She is a sinner, and your doll a saint. 

CHAUCER 

Alis, thou speak'st like one in jealousy. 

ALISOUN 

Why, Geoffrey, so I am. To tell thee flat, 
I'm jealous of thy Lady Prioress. 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 45 

CHAUCER 
Peace, dame. Speak not her name with mine. 

ALISOUN 

Aye, go it, 
Miss Innocence and Master Modesty ! 
How's that.? 

CHAUCER 

Dame Alisoun, it is enough. 

ALISOUN 
Why, then, it is enough. Come, lad ; clap hands. 
I am a bud of old experience, 

Whom frost ne'er yet hath nipped. In love, I've danced 
The waltz and minuet. Therefore, sweet Geoffrey, 
This Prioress wears a brooch upon her wrist. 

CHAUCER 
Well, what of that .? 

ALISOUN 
Yea, " What of that } " Good soul ! 
She stops to-morrow at Bob-up-and-down. 

CHAUCER 

How knowest thou } 

ALISOUN 

Nay, t'other ear is wise. 
At the One Nine-pin she shall meet — 

CHAUCER 

Her brother. 



46 THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

ALISOUN 
What wilt thou bet she goes to meet her brother ? 

CHAUCER 

Why, anything. 

ALISOUN 

Hear that ! As though a veil 
Were perfect warrant of virginity. 
What wilt thou bet she goeth not to meet 
Her leman — aye, her lover ? 

CHAUCER 

Thou art daft. 

ALISOUN 

Lo, subtle man ! He robs a poor wife's wits 
To insure his lady's honour. 

CHAUCER 

Tush, tush, dame. 

The very brooch she wears, her brother gave her, 

For whose sake she hath even promised never 

To take it off. 

ALISOUN 

Wilt bet me ? 

CHAUCER 

Bet away ! 
ALISOUN 

Ho, then, it is a bet, and this the stakes : 

If that my Lady Prioress shall give 

Yon brooch of gold from off her pretty wrist, 

Unto the man whom she expects to meet. 

And that same man prove not to be her brother, 

Then thou shalt marry me at Canterbury. 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 4^ 

CHAUCER 
A twenty of thee, dame. But if thou lose 
The stakes, then thou shalt kneel a-down and kiss 
Yon brooch of gold upon her pretty wrist, 
And pray the saints to heal thy jealousy. 

ALISOUN 

Aye, man, it is a bet ; and here's my fist. 

CHAUCER 

And here's mine, Alis ; thou art a good fellow. 

\^An uproar outside.'] 
What row is this .? 

ALISOUN 

Here comes my rendezvous. 
\_Enter in tumult, the Friar, Miller, Cook, Shipman, Sum- 
moner, and Manciple, holding fast to one another's ears. 
They call out, partly in chorus.] 

FRIAR 

He's nabbed, sweet Alisoun. 

MILLER 

Here is the lousel. 

SUMMONER 
I've got his quids. 

COOK 

I stalled him. 
ALISOUN 

Hang fast, hold him! 
Ho ! fetch him down. ^^Laughing.] O Geoffrey, here's 
a wooing ! 

CHAUCER 

Yea ; " Amor vincit omnia." 



48 THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

ALL THE SWAINS 

Here he is ! 



Leave go. 



ALISOUN 

\They let go ears."] 
Where is the knave ? 

ALL 
[^Pointing at one another^ 
There. 

ALISOUN 

Which one } 

ALL 
\_Pointing at one another. '\ 



Him! 



ALISOUN 

So, SO ! Hath Peggy jilted all of ye, 
That took such pains to grow you asses* ears t 
Fie ! Peg's a jade — come back to Alisoun ; 
She'll learn ye the true dance of love. 

ALL 

The devil ! 

CHAUCER 
Nay, Robin Huberd, Roger — lads, chirk up. 
These be the thorny steps of Purgatory 
That lead ye to your Beatrice of Bath. 
When ye attain unto her t'other ear — 

\They groan ^ 

FRIAR 

We have attained unto it. 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 49 

ALISOUN 
\To Chaucer^ 

Go thy ways ! 
\_Dra'Ws the??i astde."] 

Come here, sweethearts ! Hark ! I have made a bet 
With goodman Geoffrey yonder. Him as helps 
Me best to win my bet, by God ! he shall 
Make merry for my marriage. Come, which fellow 
Will help me } 

ALL 

I! 

ALISOUN 

The best shall make me bride. 
\_A kiichen-boy blows a horn.~\ 



Meat! 



BOY 

\_Shoiits.~\ 



\_Servants enter with steaming trenchers ; the other pilgrims 
come in and seat themselves at the table. The Prioress 
stands hesitating. Chaucer goes to meet her. '\ 

HOST 
\_Rises on a bench ^ 
Lordings, who goes to Canterbury } 



ALL 



I! 



CHAUCER 
[ Offers his arm to the Prioress?^ 
Madame, will you vouchsafe to me the honour } 



50 THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

PRIORESS 

[ With a stately courtesy^ 

Merci. 

ALISOUN 

[Imitating the Prioress ^ takes his other arm."] 

Merci ! 

[ Chaucer escorts theiti both to the table , where he sits between 

them.~\ 

HOST 
Lordings ! Now hearkneth to a merry game. 
To-morrow when you canter by the way 
It is no mirth to ride dumb as a stone. 
I say — let every fellow tell a tale 
To short the time, and him as tells the best 
You'll give a supper here when ye return. 
Lo ! I myself will ride with you and judge. 
If ye assent, hold up your hands. 

ALL 

Aye ! Aye ! 

HOST 
To-morrow then to Canterbury ! 

ALL 

To Canterbury ! 

\_Amid the babbling din of eating, drinking, and laughter, 

Alisoun leans across Chaucer's trencher towards the 

Prioress.~\ 

ALISOUN 

Who is the lean wench, Geoffrey } 

PRIORESS 

By St. Loy ! 
Explicit pars prima. 



ACT SECOND 

" Whan that Aprille with his shoures sote 
The droghte of Marche hath perced to the rote, 
And bathed every veyne in swich licour, 
Of which vertu engendred is the flour ; 
Whan Zephirus eek with his swete breeth 
Inspired hath in every holt and heeth 
The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne 
Hath in the Ram his halfe cours y-ronne, 
And smale fowles maken melodye, 
That slepen al the night with open ye, 
(So pricketh hem nature in hir corages) : 
Then longen folk to goon on pilgrimages." 



ACT II 

Time: April 19th. The afternoon. 

Scene : Garden of the One Nine-pin inn at 
the Httle hamlet of Bob-up-and-down, en 
route to Canterbury. 

Right, the inn, with door opening into garden. Back, a wall 
about chin-high in which is a wicket gate. The ivall is 
newly greened over with honeystickle and 7'ose-vines, 
which are just beginning to blossom. Left, a?i arbour 
of the same. Right front, a rough table and chair. 
Behind the garden wall runs the highway, beyond which 
stretches a quiet rolling landscape, dotted with English 
elms and hedgerows. 

When the curtain rises, the scene is empty. There is no sound 
except the singing of birds, and the hum of a loom inside 
the inn. Then, away to the left, is heard a bagpipe playing. 
It draws neat'er. Behind the wall, then, against the gi'ee7i 
background of Spring, pass, in pageant, the Canterbury 
Pilgrims on horseback. Among the last, astride her 
ambler, rides the Wife of Bath, telling her tale, in the 
group with Chaucer and the Prioress. Behind her 
follow the Swains, the Miller playing the bagpipe. 
Last rides the Reeve. 

Behind the scene, they aj-e heard to stop at the inn and call 
for hostlers. The bustle of arrival, horses led across a 
stone court, laughter and abuse, — these sounds are suf- 

53 



54 THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

ficiently remote to add to the reigning sense of pleasant 
quietness in the garden. Through the door of the inn 
enters Chaucer, alofie; in his hand, some parchments. 
He enters with an abandon of glad-heartedness, half 
reading fro7?i his parchments. 

CHAUCER 
" When that April with his sunny showers 
Hath from the drought of March the dreamy powers 
Awaked, and steeped the world in such sweet wine 
As doth engender blossoms of the vine ; 
When merry Zephirus, with his soft breath, 
In every hedge and heath inspireth 
The tender greening shoots, and the young Sun 
Hath half his course within the Ram y-run, 
And little birds all day make melody 
That, all night long, sleep with an open ee, 
(So Nature stirs 'em with delicious rages) 
Then folk they long to go on pilgrimages — " 

SQUIRE 
\^Comes from the inn.'\ 
Dan Chaucer ! Master Chaucer ! 

CHAUCER 

Signorino ! 

SQUIRE 

Sir, what a ride ! Was ever such a ride 
As ours from London ? Hillsides newly greened. 
Brooks splashing silver in the small, sweet grass, 
Pelt gusts of rain dark'ning the hills, and then 
Wide swallowed up in sunshine ! And to feel 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 55 

My snorting jennet stamp the oozy turf 

Under my stirrup, whilst from overhead 

Sonnets shook down from every bough. Oh, sir. 

Rode Caesar such a triumph from his wars 

When Rome's high walls were garlanded with girls ? 

CHAUCER 

Boy, let me hug thee ! 

SQUIRE 

Noble sir ! 

CHAUCER 

\_Embracing him.~\ 

A hug! 
Spring makes us youths together. On such a day 
Old age is fuddled and time's weights run down. 

Hark! 

\_A cuckoo sounds ; they listen.^ 

The meadow is the cuckoo's clock, and strikes 
The hour at every minute ; larks run up 
And ring its golden chimes against the sun. 

SQUIRE 
Sir, only lovers count the time in heaven. 
Are you in love, too } 

CHAUCER 

Over head and heart. 

SQUIRE 
Since long ? 

CHAUCER 
These forty years. 



56 THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

SQUIRE 
So old ? 

CHAUCER 

She's still kind. 



Nay, is your mistress 



SQUIRE 
Kind, yet old ! Nay, what's 
Her name ? 

CHAUCER 

Hush, she will hear thee. 



Hear me ? 



SQUIRE 

CHAUCER 

\_Mysteriously.'\ 

Hush! 

Mine own true mistress is sweet Out-of-doors. 

No Whitsun lassie wears so green a kirtle. 

Nor sings so clear, nor smiles with such blue eyes, 

As bonny April, winking tears away. 

Not flowers o' silk upon an empress' sleeve 

Can match the broidery of an English field. 

No lap of amorous lady in the land 

Welcomes her gallant, as sweet Mistress Earth 

Her lover. Let Eneas have his Dido ! 

Daffydowndilly is the dame for me. 



Joannes 



PRIORESS 
[ Within.'] 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 57 

SQUIRE 

You are happy, sir, to have 
Your mistress always by you. Mine's afar 
Turning the Italian roses pale with envy. 

CHAUCER 

She dwells in Italy ? 

SQUIRE 
In Padua. 

CHAUCER 
In Padua ? Why, there I knew Dan Petrarch, 
Whose sonnets make the world love-sick for Laura. 

SQUIRE 
Would I could make it sigh once for my lady ! 
Sir, will you help me .'' 

CHAUCER 

Gladly ; what's her name ? 

SQUIRE 
Alas ! Her name is not poetical : 
Johanna! Who can sonnetize Johanna? 

CHAUCER 

Invent her one to please you. 

SQUIRE 

Euphranasia — 
How like you Euphranasia, sir? 



58 THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

FRIAR 
\Aside^ popping his head from behind the walL~\ 

Qui la ? 

\_Dodges down again, '] 

PRIORESS 
[ Within, singing."] 

Laudate, pueri, Dominum ; laudate nomen Domini ! 
Nay, Paulus, I wi/l sing : 'tis pretty weather. 

SQUIRE 

Euridice or Helena ? 

PRIORESS 
[^Sings within.] 

A solis ortu usque ad occasum, laudabile nomen 
Domini. 

SQUIRE 
Or, Thisbe .? 

CHAUCER 
[^Li/ting a sprig of honeysuckle on the wall.] 
Nay, boy, this spray shall name her. 

[The Friar peeps over the wall again ^ 

SQUIRE 

Eglantine ! 

Music itself ! Methinks I have an aunt 

Named Eglantine. What matter } — Eglantine ! 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 59 

CHAUCER 
I'll match that name against the Muses nine. 
\Takes out his parchments. '\ 

SQUIRE 
What ! verses ? 

CHAUCER 
Scraps of prologue to a book 
I think to call "The Canterbury Tales." 
Good boy, leave me a bit ; I have the fit 
To rhyme for a time thy Donna Eglantine. 
Come back at chapel-bell, or send someone 
To fetch the verses. 

SQUIRE 
Sir, I will. 

\_Exit left.'\ 

FRIAR 

Me voila ! 
\_Exit right, behind wall.'] 

CHAUCER 
\Reading from one of his parchments y crosses over by the 

arbour^ 

" There was also a nun, a prioress, 

That of her smiling was full simple and coy ; 

The greatest oath she swore was * by St. Loy ! ' 

And she was cleped Madame Eglantine ; 

Full daintily she sung the psalms divine ; 

And French she spake (St. Patrick taught her how), 

After the school of Stratford-at-the-Bowe. 



60 THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

Full prettily her wimple pinched was, 
Her nose piquante ; her eyes as grey as glass ; 
Her mouth full small, and thereto soft and red ; 
In very sooth she had a fair forehead ; 
And dangling from her dainty wristlet small, 
A brooch of gold she wore, and therewithal 
Upon it there was writ a crowned A, 
And after — 

\_Enterj righty the Prioress, carrying her little hound. Chau- 
cer sees her.~\ 

Amor vincit omnia." 

\_He enters the arbour."] 

PRIORESS 

Joannes, stay indoors and tell your beads. 

\_To her little hound,] 

Jacquette, ma petite, it is a pretty day. 

See you those clouds } They are St. Agnes' sheep ; 

She hath washed their wool all white and turned 'em 

loose 
To play on heaven's warm hillside. Smell that rose ? 
Sweet — sweet! n'est ce pas, ma petite.'' Hast ever 

heard 
The Romance of the Rose ? 

CHAUCER 
{Aside.] 

Saints ! 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 6l 

PRIORESS 

'Tis a tale 
As lovely as the flower, — writ all in verses 
Dan Chaucer made at court. Hush, hush, don't tell : 
I've read it. Ah ! Jacquette ! Jacquette ! Jacquette ! 
When Mary was a girl in Joseph's garden, 
Were there such pretty days in Palestine ? 

\^Picks a rose.'\ 

CHAUCER 
Gods ! must I hand her over — to a brother ! 
Alas ! the sands of dreams, how fast they slip 
Till Geoffrey lose his Lord-protectorship. 

PRIORESS 

,\_Flucking the rose's petals till the last petal falls.'] 
Pater noster (our Father), qui es in coelis (which art 
in heaven), sanctificetur nomen tuum (hallowed be thy 
name). Adveniat regnum tuum (thy kingdom come) ; 
fiat voluntas tua — thy will be done ! 

CHAUCER 

Amen 1 I must resign ! 

\_He is about to step out from the arbour and discover him- 
self ^ but pauses as the Prioress continues?^ 

PRIORESS 
Alas ! We must go seek my brother and so 
Quit the protection of this noble stranger. 
You know, Jacquette, we must be fond of him. 
He saved your life — we mustn't forget that. 



62 THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

And though the wastel-bread was underdone, 
He was most kind at table, and inquired 
After your health, petite. And though he kis'sed 
The ale-wife — oui, ma pauvre Jacquette ! — yet he 
Is contrite, and will seek St. Thomas' shrine 
For absolution. 

CHAUCER 

Forgive us our trespasses ! 

PRIORESS 

He was so courteous, too, upon the road 
I'm sure he is a gentleman. Indeed, 
I hope my brother proves as true a knight, 
When he arrives. 

CHAUCER 

Deliver us from temptation ! 
\_A shout from the pilgrims within^ 

PRIORESS 
Would he were here now. — Nay, I mean — the other. 
This April day flowed sweet as a clear brook 
Till these hoarse frogs jumped in to rile its silver. 

SWAINS 
\_Singy within. '^ 
The Wife of Bath 

She's a good fellow, 
A maiden mellow 
Of Aftermath. 



I 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 63 

PRIORESS 
Vite, vite, ma petite. 

\_She hastens to the arbour ^ where Chaucer quickly pretends to 
be absorbed in writing. As she is withdrawing hastily, 
however, he turns round.'] 

Monsieur, excusez moi ! 

CHAUCER 

Madame, the fault is mine ; I crave your pardon. 

PRIORESS 

What fault. Monsieur ? 

CHAUCER 
[Breaks a spray from the arbour and hands it to her,] 

I trespass in your bower. 
Permettez. 

PRIORESS 

Honeysuckle } 

CHAUCER 

So 'tis called ; 
But poets, lady, name it — eglantine. 

PRIORESS 
M'sieur ! 

CHAUCER 

May I remain and call it so } 



64 THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

PRIORESS 

M'sieur — this is Jacquette, my little hound. 

[ Chaucer takes the pup ; they retire farther into the arbour , 
as the Wife of Bath enters from the inn. She is accom- 
panied by the Friar, Miller, Cook, Summoner, Par- 
doner, Manciple, and Shipman, who enter singing. They 
lift her upon the table, and form a circle round her.~\ 

SWAINS 

The Wife of Bath 

She's a good fellow, 

A maiden mellow 
Of Aftermath. 

She cuts a swath 

Through sere-and-yellow ; 
No weeping willow 

Bestrews her path. 

Her voice in wrath 

Is a bullock's bellow ; 
For every good fellow 

Eyes she hath. 

She's a good fellow. 
The Wife of Bath ! 

ALISOUN 

Sweethearts, your lungs can blow the buck's horn. — 

Robin, 
Ye sing like a bittern bumbling in the mire. 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 65 

MILLER 

By Corpus, 'twas a love-toot. 

FRIAR 

Prithee, sweet dame, 
Finish your tale. 

ALL 

Finish the tale. 
\_Other pilgri7ns enter from the inn.'] 

ALISOUN 
Shut up, lads. Sure, my wits are gone blackberrying. 
Where was I o-^ 

FRIAR 

Where King Arthur's knight came home, 
You said, and — 

ALISOUN 

Will you let me say it then ? 

FRIAR 

Sweet dame, you said — 

ALISOUN 

A friar and a fly 
Will fall in every dish, that's what I said. 
Lads, will ye hear this church-bell ring, or me 1 

ALL 

You — you — 

SUMMONER 

I'll muffle his clapper. 



e^ THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

i-- ALISOUN 

Hark my tale : 
This knight rode home a-whistlin' to himself, 
Right up the castle-hall, where all the lords 
And ladies sat. *' Your majesties," quoth he, 
** Though I be hanged, this is my true reply : 
Women desire to do their own sweet wills." 

\The Swains clap.'\ 

" Ho ! " cried King Arthur, " that's the best I've heard 
Since I was first henpecked by Guinevere. 
Depart ! Thy neck is free ! " 

But at that word, 
Up sprang an old wife, sitting by the fire. 
And says : ** Merci, your Majesty, 'twas I 
That taught this answer to the knight ; and he 
Hath sworn to do the next thing I require. 
Therefore, sweet knight, before this court I pray 
That ye will take me to your wedded wife. 
Have I said false } " 

" Nay, bury me," quoth he. 
"Then I will be thy love." 

" My love } " quoth he. 
" Nay, my damnation ! " 

" Take your wife to church," 
Cries out the King, " and look ye treat her well, 
Or you shall hang." 

MILLER 

Ho ! What a roast ! 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 6/ 

PRIORESS 

[ Aside^ 

Poor man ! 

ALISOUN 

The knight he spake no word, but forth he takes 
His grizzly bride to church, and after dark 
He leads her home. "Alas! sweet husband mine. 
What troubleth you?" quoth she. "Nothing," 

quoth he. 
" Perchance that I am old .'' " " Nay, nay," quoth he. 
"Ugly and old," quoth she, "cures jealousy." 
" It doth indeed," quoth he. " What then } " quoth she. 
" Are ye content ? " " More than content," quoth he ; 
" And will ye let me do my own sweet will 
In everything t " " In everything," quoth he, 
" My lady and my love, do as you please." 
" Why, then, so please me, strike a light," quoth she. 
And when the knight had lit the candle, lo ! 
His grizzly bride — she was the Fairy Queen. 
\Loud acclamation^ 

PRIORESS 

\_Aside^ 
Praise heaven ! 

FRIAR 

\_Into whose arms A lis oun Jumps."] 
Bravo, Queen Mab, it was thyself. 

COOK 

I'll bet 
The knight was her fifth husband. 



68 THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

ALISOUN 

Welcome the sixth ! 

God made me the King Solomon of wives. 

SHIPMAN 
[ To the Miller, who begins to play his pipes ^ 
God save thee, Robin ! Bust thy pigskin. 

ALISOUN 

Aye! 
Let's have an elf dance. Come ! 

\_To the Summoner.~\ 

Thy arm, sweet Puck ! 

BOTTLEJOHN 
\_To Herry Bailey, who is looking on.^ 
Tarry ye all to-night ? 

HOST 

Aye, till to-morrow. 

BOTTLEJOHN 

'Twill be a pinch for room. 

HOST 
[^Laughs.'] 

But not for reckonings. 
\_The Miller, sitting on the wall, plays his bagpipe, while 
Alisoun dances ivith her Swains, each of whom is Jealous 
of the rest. Chaucer and the Prioress still remain out 
of sight in the a?-bo7ir. As the music grows merrier, 
the Prioress begins to click the beads of her rosary 
rhythmically.^ 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 69 

CHAUCER 
Why do you tell your beads, Madame ? 

PRIORESS 

To keep 
The fairies from my feet. 

CHAUCER 

The fairies ? 

PRIORESS 

Yes, 
The bagpipe sets them free. I feel them twitch me. 

CHAUCER 

Why drive them away } 

PRIORESS 

Monsieur ! 

CHAUCER 

See you the birds } 
St. Francis taught that we should learn of them. 

PRIORESS 
What do they } 

CHAUCER 

Sing, and dance from bough to bough. 

The Muses sing ; and St. Cecilia danced. 

PRIORESS 

Think you she danced, sir, of her own sweet will } 



70 THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

CHAUCER 
Nay, not in April ! In April, 'tis God's will. 

PRIORESS 

Monsieur — 

[ Gives Chaucer her hand shyly. '\ 

'tis April. 
[ They dance ^ in stately fashion, within the arbour. Forget- 
ting themselves in the dance, however, they coine a little 
too far forward ; Alisoun spies them, and clappi^ig her 
hands, the music stops.'] 

ALISOUN 

Caught ! Ho, turtle-doves ! 

Come forth, Sir Elvish Knight, Sir Oberon ! 

Fetch forth thy veiled nymph, that trips so fair. 

[ Chaucer steps forth from the arbour. The Prioress, within, 

seizes up her little hound from a settle and hides her 

face.] 

ALL 
Hail ! 

CHAUCER 

Silence, loons ! And thou, wife, hold thy tongue 

And know thy betters. As for you, ye lummocks, 

You need be proud as water in a ditch 

To glass this lady's image even in your eyes, 

So, look ye muddy not her sandal-tips. 

Begone ! And mind when next you laugh the same. 

That all the saints, to whom you bumpkins pray. 

Dance with the Virgin round the throne of God. 

Begone, and do your reverences. 

\^Some of the pilgrims retire ; others remain staring and bow 

as the Prioress, veiled, crosses over to the inn door with 

her little hound.] 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS J\ 



ALISOUN 
\To the Cook.'] 



What is the man ? 



Hist, Roger! 



COOK 
No cheap dough. 

PRIORESS 

O Jacquette 
\_Exit~\ 

ALISOUN 
\_Approaches Chaucer tentatively r[ 

God save thee, man ! I ken not who thou art, 
But him's can curry down a ticklish mare 
Like me, he hath a backbone in his bolster ; 
I love thee better for 't — Ay, gang thy gait ; 
But, bully Geoffrey, mind, we have a bet : 
Yea, if I fry thee not in thine own grease 
And cry thee tit for tat, call me a man. 
Man lives /(^r wit, but woman lives by it. — 
These dancing virgins ! 

\^Exit^ followed by Friar ^ 

CHAUCER 

Clods and bumpkins all ! 

MILLER 
\_Gets in Chaucer's way defiantly.] 
Sir Oberon — 

CHAUCER 
Stand by ! 



72 THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

MILLER 

Lord Rim- Ram- Ruff ! 
He plays the courtier. 

[^Bitterly.l 

Harkee, Monsieur Courtier, 
"When Adam delved and Eve span, 
Who was then the gentleman ? " 

CHAUCER 
Why, Monsieur Snake ; he cherished the family tree 
As the apple of his eye. In view of which. 
Go drink a pot of cider. 

\Thro'ws the Miller a com.'] 

MILLER 
\_Duckmg.'] 

'Save your Worship ! 
[^Exit with Swains. ~\ 

CHAUCER 
[Solus.'] 

"When Adam delved " — who was court-poet then .? 
Adam. Who was Bob Clodhopper } Why, Adam. 
Which, then, in that close body politic 
Perked high his chin.'' Which doffed and ducked 

the knee } 
Which tanned and sweat in the lean furrow .? Which 
Spat on the spade — and wore it in his crest } 
Which was the real Adam .<* Sly Dame Clay, 
If paradox died not in Genesis, 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 73 

Let me not fancy Richard's laureate 

Alone's incognito. Incognito 

Are all that pass in nature's pilgrimage, 

For thou, with loamy masks and flesh-tint veils, 

Dost make us, in this timeless carnival, 

Thy dupes and dancers, ushering the courtier 

To kiss beneath thy glove the goose-girl's hand. 

Or snub, behind the poor familiar rogue 

And clown, some god that hides in Momus' mask. 

Nay, but not she — my gentle Prioress ! 

Though all the rest, in born disguisements, be 

Basted and togg'd with huge discrepancy, 

She wears the proper habit of her soul. 

Dear God ! how harmony like hers unchains 

Delight from the lugg'd body of Desire 

To sing toward heaven like the meadow-lark. 

Till, with her parting, it drops dumb again 

In the old quag of flesh. 

Flesh, Geoffrey ! Fie ! 
What need to guard from sight the poet in thee 
When nature thus hath hoop'd and wadded him 
With barracoons of paunch.? What say, thou tun ? 
Will Eglantine mistake thee for Apollo, 
Thou jewel in the bloated toad ; thou bagpipe 
Puff'd by the Muse; thou demijohn of nectar; 
Thou grape of Hebe, over-ripe with rhyme ; 
Thou lump of Clio, mountain of Terpsichore ; 
Diogenes, that talkest in thy tub ! 
Fie, Mother Earth ! — Cling not about my waist 
As if I were a weanling sphere. Fall off ! 
Ye gods ! that kneaded this incongruous dough 



74 THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

With lyric leaven, sweat me to a rake-handle 
Or let the Muse grow fat ! 

\^Exit7\ 

FRIAR 

\_Ouiside^ sings. '\ 
Ye pouting wenches, pretty wives. 

That itch at weddings, fairs, and wakes, 
For trothal-rings and kissing-cakes. 
For wristlets, pins, and pearled knives, 
Hither trip it ! 
To peep i* the friar's farsed tippet, 
Who gently for sweet sinners* sakes — 
\Enter the Friar and Alisoun?[ 

ALISOUN 
Hush! 

\_Going to the cellar-door ^ she opens it and ponders^ 

FRIAR 

Ben'cite ! 

(Thus singeth he.) 

Bene — benedicite ! 

ALISOUN 

Hold thy cock-crow ! My wit's working. 

FRIAR 

Nay, 
Thy jealousy, sweet dame. 

\_Sings^ 
Ye lasses jilted, lovers drooped, 
Rose-lip — 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 75 

ALISOUN 

Shut up ! 

FRIAR 

\Sings on.'] 

Rose-lip, White-brow, Blue-eye, Brown-tress, 
Confide your pretty hearts ! Confess 
To the pleasant friar : trust not Cupid — 

ALISOUN 

By Peter ! 
I have the plan ! 

FRIAR 
\^Sings.] 

Love is a liar, 
But lovers love the pleasant friar, 
Who, making of their burdens less — 

\_Here he approaches Alisoun caressingly, and deftly steals a 
'\^ gold pin from her head-dress.] 

ALISOUN 
\_La7ighmg to herself^ 
Ha ! that shall win my bet ! 



What, Huberd ! 



FRIAR 
\Secreting the pin.] 

Ben' cite ! 

(Thus singeth he.) 
Bene — benedicite ! 

ALISOUN 
Wilt thou hear my plan ? 



76 THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

FRIAR 

Fair Alis, 
I would console thy jealousy. 

ALISOUN 

Me jealous ! 
Blest be thy breech ! Who of ? 

FRIAR 
\_Imt fating Chaucer in his former speech. '\ 

" And, thou, wife, hold 
Thy tongue and know thy betters." 

ALISOUN 

Ho ! my betters t 
That little snipper-snapper of a saint 
He praised for dancing ring-around-the-rose-tree, 
When honest wives are damned for showing their 

ankles } 
A fig for her ! — What, him ! a walking hay-cock 
That woos a knitting-needle of a nun ! 
And me ! that when I was to home in Bath 
Walked into kirk before the beadle's wife : 
My betters } Wait until I win my bet ! 

FRIAR 

What bet } . 

ALISOUN 

Canst thou be mum } 

FRIAR 

Dame, I have been 
A bishop's valet, a nun's confidant, 
A wife's confessor, a maid's notary ; 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS j-j 

As coroner, I've sat in Cheapside inns 

When more than wine flowed. This breast can be 

dark 
As Pharaoh's chamber in the pyramids. 

ALISOUN 

List then : Ye wot I made a bet last night 
With Geoffrey. This was it : Dame Eglantine, 
Here at this inn, expects to meet her brother — 

^, FRIAR 

You mean -^ Dan Roderigo. 

ALISOUN 

Aye ; but as 
She hath not seen him since she was a child, 
She hath not recognised him. He, ye ken, 
Doth wear a ring wi' a Latin posy in't. 

FRIAR 
I know ; 'tis " Amor vincit omnia," 
The same as on her brooch. 

ALISOUN 

There hangs my bet. 
For if Dame Eglantine shall give yon brooch 
Into the hands of any but her brother. 
Then Geoffrey marries me at Canterbury. 

FRIAR 

Diable ! Marries thee t 



y8 THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

ALISOUN 

What then, dear friend ? 
Wouldst thou forswear thy celibate sweet vows 
To buckle on a wife ? 

FRIAR 

Nay, dame, a sister. 

ALISOUN 

A sister of St. Venus' house ? Go pray ! 
A husband is my holy pilgrimage, 
And Geoffrey is my shrine. 

FRIAR 

Et moi ? 

ALISOUN 

"Et moi.?" 
Thou art a jolly incubus. Thou shalt 
Help me to catch my bird. 

\_Enter the Miller by the wicket gate. '\ 

FRIAR 

Et done ? 

ALISOUN 

" Et done } " 
Why, then, I'll give a farthing to the friars. 

FRIAR 

Nay, dame, the coin of Cupid is a kiss. 

\^Pleadi7ig^ 
One kiss pour moi. — At Canterbury — un baiser ! 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 79 

MILLER 
\_Seiztng the Friar.'] 
One pasty, eh ? thou shorn ape ! 

FRIAR 

[^ScreamsJ] 

Ahsoun ! 

MILLER 

By Corpus bones, I'll baste thee ! 

ALISOUN 

Let him be ! 
Shame ! Wouldst thou violate a modest friar ? 

MILLER 

He asked thee for a — 

ALISOUN 

Baiser. Baiser means 
In Latin tongue a blessing. Not so, Huberd ? 

FRIAR 

Dame, from thy Hps, it meaneth Paradise. 

MILLER 
[^Imitating him.'] 
Doth it in thooth, thweet thir ? — Thou lisping jay ! 
Thou lousy petticoats ! 

ALISOUN 
[^Suddenly embracing the Miller; whispers to him.] 

Whist ! Robin, thou 
Art just in the nick. I have a plan. Run fast ; 
Fetch here the other lads, and bring a gag. 



80 THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

MILLER 
A gag ? For him ? 

ALISOUN 
Run quick. 

MILLER 
\_Going.'\ 

By Corpus arms ! 

FRIAR 

\Taunting^ 

Mealy miller, moth-miller, 

Fly away ! 

If Dame Butterfly doth say thee nay, 

Go and court a caterpillar ! 

MILLER 

\_Laughtng, shakes his fist. '\ 
Ha, ha ! By Corpus bones ! 

\^Exit at gate^ 

ALISOUN 

Now, bird ; the plot. 
I've sent him for a gag. 

FRIAR 

A gag ? What for > 

ALISOUN 
To win my bet, of course. 'Tis for this knight. 

FRIAR 

Thou wilt not gag a knight — the Prioress' 
Brother ! 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 8 1 

ALISOUN 

Hast thou forgot I bet with Geoffrey 
The man that wears the ring will prove to be 
Dame Virtue's lover ? 

FRIAR 

He that wears the ring ? 
Methinks I smell : but who's your man ? 

ALISOUN 

Sweet owl, 
The sunlight hurts thine eyes, thou starest too hard. 

\_Blindfolding his eyes with her hafids^ she whirls him thrice 

round.'] 
Behold him. 

FRIAR 
\_Dizzily.'\ 
Where ? 
\_Alisoun slaps her own shoulder^ 

What, thou ? O ecce homo ! 
Thou wilt enact the lover and the knight 
And woo Dame Eglantine ? 

ALISOUN 

Who else ? Forsooth, 
I am a shapely crusader. This leg 
Hath strode a palfrey thrice to Palestine. 
I've won my spurs. 

FRIAR 

Thou wit of Aristotle. 
O Helen of Troy ! O Amazon ! I catch : 
Thou gaggest the real knight and bear'st him off 
Where thou mayst steal his ring and togs. 



82 THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

ALISOUN 

And borrow 
A false beard from thy tippet. Thou shalt be 
My valet, and retouch the Wife of Bath 
To play the Devil in the Mystery. 

FRIAR 

But where'll be thy boudoir ? 

ALISOUN 

The cellar yonder. 
Bob Miller and the other lads shall gag 
And tie him there. 

FRIAR 

Why, this is merrier than 
Nine wenches ducking in a Hallow-een bowl. 

\_Doubling over with laughter^ he almost knocks against 
Chaucer, who ente7's, left, meditative.'\ 

Whist ! Geoffrey ! Come away. 

CHAUCER 
\Reads from a parchmentJ^ 
"April, May, 
Cannot stay ; 
We be pilgrims — so are they, 
And our shrine. 
Far away — " 
\_A bell sounds outside ; Chaucer pauses, and draws out a 
pocket sun-dialS\ 

The chapel bell! 
Four, by my cylinder. My signorino 
Will claim his verses ! 

[^Reads on.~\ 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 83 

"And our shrine, 
Far away, 
Is the heart of Eglantine." 
\_Paicses and writes. '\ 

ALISOUN 
\Aside to Friar. ~\ 

Eglantine ! What's this ? 

FRIAR 

Love verses. He hath writ them for the Squire 
To give unto his lady-love Johanna. 

ALISOUN 

But he said " Eglantine." 

FRIAR 

Aye, dame ; he dubs 
Her Eglantine to be poetical. 

ALISOUN 

A poet ! Him ? 

FRIAR 
Why not } Jack Straw himself 
Could ring a rhyme, God wot, till his neck was wrung. 

CHAUCER 

\^Reads.'\ 
" Eglantine, 

O to be 
There with thee. 

Over sea, 
In olive-shaded Italy." 

Too rough. " Shaded " is harsh. H'm ! " Olive- 
silvered." 
"In olive-silvered Italy." — That's better. 



84 THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

FRIAR 

\To A/isoun.'] 
Hide there ! 

ALISOUN 

What now ? 

FRIAR 

Watch. 
\The Friar approaches Chaucer obsequiously^ 

CHAUCER 
\_Reads^ 
" There to pray 
At thy shrine — " 

FRIAR 



The blissful martyr save you, sir. 

CHAUCER 
FRIAR 

The gentle Squire sent me for — 

CHAUCER 



Benedicite ! 



And you. 



His verses } 



They are just finished. 

\_Folds them up.~\ 

FRIAR 

Sir, you see, he hailed me 
Passing upon the road. He lies out yonder 
Along a brookside, sighing for his lady. 

CHAUCER 
\_IIandi?ig the parchmefit to the Friar."] 
Bid him despatch her these. Here, wait ; this spray 
Of eglantine goes with them. 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 8$ 

FRIAR 

Save you, sir. 

\The Friar starts for the wicket gate. Chaucer, absent- 
minded, passes on to the inn door. As he does so, the 
Fjiar, treading tip-toe behind him, steals another parch- 
pient, which is sticking from his pouch.'] 

CHAUCER 

" April, May, 

Cannot stay ; 

We be pilgrims — so are they." 

\_Exit.'] 

FRIAR 
\_Stands holding the second parchment, frotn which he reads.] 
" There was also a nun, a prioress. 
That of her smiling was full simple and coy ; 
The greatest oath she swore — " 

Blessed be larceny ! 
This rhyme is slicker to have up my sleeve 
Than five aces of trumps. 

ALISOUN 
[^Joining him.~\ 

What's up ? 



FRIAR 

Of human hearts I am an alchemist. 
To stir them in the crucible of love 
Is all my research and experiment ; 
And but to find a new amalgam makes 
My mouth to water like a dilettante's. 



List, dame ! 



86 THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

ALISOUN 
Well ? 

FRIAR 

Geoffrey wrote these verses for the Squire 
To give his lady ; therefore, / will give them 
To Eglantine, and watch the tertiiim quid ; 
That is to say, whether the resultant be 
A mantling coleur rose, or — an explosion. 

ALISOUN 

What's in the verses ? Nay, man, read 'em out ; 
I am no clerk. 

FRIAR 

/ am a master-reader. 

" Sigh, Spring, sigh, 

Repine 

Amid the moon-kissed eglantine, 

For so do I." 

\The Friar sighs ^ 

ALISOUN 
No more o* that. 

FRIAR 

Sweet Alis, 'tis the art. 
When I look thus, — 'tis moonlight. When I sigh 
Thus, — 'tis a zephyr wooing apple blossoms. 

ALISOUN 

Wooing a sick goat ! Read ahead. 

FRIAR 

Ahem! 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 8/ 

\_Reads.'\ 
'' April, May, 
Cannot — " 

\_Enter^ from the inn, the Knight; from the wicket gate, the 
Swains, with ropes and a gag.'] 

ALISOUN 
Quit ; here's our knight. Go find the Prioress. 
And when you've given her the verses, join 
Me and the other fellows in the cellar. 

\^ Jerking her thumb at the Knight^ 
He'll be with us. 

FRIAR 

Thy valet comprehends. 

KNIGHT 
[71? Eriar.] 
Good fellow, have you seen my son, the Squire ? 

FRIAR 

My lord, that dame can tell you. 

\_Throwing a kiss to A/isoun.'] 

Au revoir ! 
[ Then throwing another to the Miller, he sings as he skips out] 

Ma douce gazelle. 
Ma gazelle belle, 
Bon soir ! 

MILLER 
\To the Shipman.] 
Quick ! Head him off. Jack ! 

\_Exit Eriar into inn.] 



88 THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

ALISOUN 

Let him go. 
\To the Miller. '\ 

Thine ear ! 

MILLER 

But — 

ALISOUN 

Shh! 

[Draws him aside and whispers."] 
Art thou afeard ? 

MILLER 

Nay, dame, but 'tis 
A lord. Mayhap we'd catch the whipping-post. 

ALISOUN 
But mayhap me along with it, sweet Bob. 
[They whisper aside. ~\ 

KNIGHT 
This woman tell me of my son ! 'Tis strange. 

ALISOUN 

\_Aside to Miller.'] 
Ye ken ! 

MILLER 

Aye, aye. 
[Looking pleased, he speaks to the others aside. During the 
following sceiie, all of them approach the Knight cau- 
tiously with the ropes and gag, while Alisoun, distracting 
the Knight, warns or urges the?n in pantomime.] 

KNIGHT 

Good woman, have you seen — 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 89 

ALISOUN 
And do mine eyes behold him once again ? 
O sir ! The blissful saints requite you, sir ! 

KNIGHT 

For what, good dame ? 

ALISOUN 

His voice ! That I should hear 
His voice once more ! The vision bursts again 
Upon my brain : the swords, the sweated horse, 
The lifted battle-mace, and then his arms, 
His arms around me — saved ! 

\_Falling at his feet ^ 

Oh, can it be ? 

KNIGHT 
Madame, arise. We met last night, methinks, 
At Master Bailey's inn, in Southwark, but 
Never before. 

ALISOUN 
\_Rising7\ 
Hold ! Gallop not so fast, 
Ye steeds of Memory ! — Was it perchance 
A lonely damsel by the Coal Black Sea, 
Forsaken save by him ; or was it by 
The walls of old Granada, at the siege. 
When, dazzled by the white star of my beauty, 
He raised his cross to smite the lustful Moor, 
And cried, " Don Roderigo dies for thee ! " 

KNIGHT 
{To the Miller :\ 
The woman is ill. You had best call a leach. 



90 THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

ALISOUN 

Call no one, sir. Forgive my sentiment. 
Small wonder is it, though the lordly falcon 
Forget the dove he succoured from the crows. 
But ah ! how can the tender dove conceal 
The flutterings of her snow-white breast to meet 
Her lord once more } 

KNIGHT 
\_Going.'\ 
Madame, I wish you better. 

ALISOUN 

Dear lord, when last we met at Algezir — 



Pray to the Virgin ! 



KNIGHT 

ALISOUN 

Sweet lord ! — 



KNIGHT 

By St. George, 



I know you not. 



ALISOUN 

Alas ! Alas ! The faithless ! 
Was this the chivalry ye promised me 
That night ye kissed me by the soldan's tent.^ 

KNIGHT 

Off me, thou wife of Satan ! 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 91 

ALISOUN 

Heard ye that ? 
Lads, to the rescue ! 

KNIGHT 

Sorcery ! 

\_The Miller and Alisoun gag the Knight, while the others 
assist in bittding him."\ 

ALISOUN 

Quick, Roger! 

Take off his finger-ring. Mum, sweethearts ! In, 

now ! 

\_Exeunt omnes, carrying the Knight into the inn cellar^ 

[Enter the Squire and Johanna. Passing alo?tg behind the 

wally they enter the garden by the wicket gate ?^ 

SQUIRE 
Lady, I cannot yet believe my eyes 
That you are here, and not in Padua/ 

JOHANNA 
'Tis sweet to hear your voice discredit mine, 
And yet I pray you, sir, believe in me ; 
I would not prove a rich Lombardian dream 
To be more fair — even than I am. 



SQUIRE 

You could not. 

JOHANNA 

Grazie ! 



92 THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

SQUIRE 
For you authenticise yourself 
With beauty's passport. This alone is you ; 
But how come hither ? 

JOHANNA 

Like the Spring, because 
I heard the snows had thawed in Merry England. 

SQUIRE 
As ever, you're fellow-travellers, dear lady ; 
I might have guessed it from the little birds, 
Your gossipy outriders. But with what 
Less winged chaperones came you .-* 

JOHANNA 

Nay, with none ! 
Some flighty ladies of King Richard's court 
That oped their beaks — but not like nightingales — 
To prate of love. For my part when I saw them 
This morning trot away toward Canterbury 
With that dull Gaunt and silly Duke of Ireland, 
I sighed "sweet riddance." True, the king is different, 
But he is married. 

SQUIRE 
You are not alone } 

JOHANNA 

No, sir. I travel with a world-stormed priest. 
Whom all who love him call " Good Master Wycliffe " ; 
And those who love him not, " Old Nick," for writing 
The gospels in dear English. 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 93 

SQUIRE 

You — a Lollard ! 

JOHANNA 
Wait till you know him. He rides now to assist 
High mass at the Cathedral, for Duke John 
Who sails to claim his kingdom in Castile. 
But I ride with him, not so much to absolve 
My sins, — which frankly, since they are so few 
And serviceable, I hate to part with — as 
I go to look on one shall grace that service — 
The man I best admire. 

SQUIRE 

Sweet lady, whom } 

JOHANNA 

Dan Chaucer — laureate of chivalry. 

SQUIRE 

Chaucer ! Why he — 

\_Checks himself. '\ 
Alas ! 

JOHANNA 

Scarce do I wonder 
To see you bite your lip at that great name : 
You, sir, who once, unless my memory fail, 
Did promise me some verses of your own. 

SQUIRE 
Nay, you shall have them. 



V 



94 THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

JOHANNA 

What ? The verses ? 

SQUIRE 

Yes. 

JOHANNA 

Prithee, what are they ? Rondeaux, amoretti, 

Ballads ? Why did you send them not ? Odes ? 

Sonnets ? 

Which ? 

SQUIRE 

Nay, I know not. 

JOHANNA 

Know not } 



Know not as yet ! 



SQUIRE 

Not as yet. 

JOHANNA 



SQUIRE 
I mean — O Donna mine ! 
I have a friend, whom but to call my friend 
Sets all my thoughts on fire, and makes the world 
A pent-up secret burning to be told. 
Whose slave to be, I would roll Sisyphus' stone; 
Whom to clasp hands withal, I'd fight Apollyon; 
For whom but to be Pythias, I would die. 

JOHANNA 

What amorous Platonics ! Pythias } 

Sure, Troilus were an apter choice. Well, sir, 

Who is this paragon .-* 

Heaven send her freckles. 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 95 

SQUIRE 

Nay, if it were allowed me but to name — 
If you could guess the Olympian pedigree — 

\^Enter Chaucer from the inn^ 
Ah ! Here he comes ! 

JOHANNA 

Pray, sir, who comes ? 

SQUIRE 

My friend. 

CHAUCER 

[^Scanning the groufid^ 
I would not for good twenty pound have lost it. 

JOHANNA 

Is this your Damon .'' 

SQUIRE 

Lady, 'tis my friend. 

CHAUCER 
\_To himself^ 
If Madame Eglantine should find it, read it ! 
Nay, not for forty pound. 

SQUIRE 

He does not see us. 
May I present him } 

JOHANNA 
\_Nods ca7'elessly, then aside."] 

Saints ! Must I essay 
To circumvent a rival of such scope } 



96 THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

SQUIRE 



Great sir ! 



I prithee 



Pardon ! 



JOHANNA 

" Great sir " 's a proper epithet 

SQUIRE 
[^Touching Chaucer's sleeve. "] 

CHAUCER 
Ah, boy, well met ! Did I perchance — 
\_Seetng Johanna.'] 



SQUIRE 
\_Whispers to Chaucer y then aloud to Johanna 7\ 
Permit me to present to you — 
Lady Johanna, Marchioness of Kent — 
This gentleman, my friend. 

JOHANNA 
\_Bows slightly^ 

A nameless knight ? 

SQUIRE 

\^Em ba rrassed. ] 
His name — ah! 

CHAUCER 
Master Geoffrey, and your servant. 

JOHANNA 
\_To Chaucer. ~\ 
We saw you searching. Was it for a sur-name ? 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 97 

SQUIRE 
Have you lost something ? Let us help you find it. 
A purse ? 

JOHANNA 

I trust your loss was not in pounds. 

CHAUCER 
Sooth, I have lost what fair your ladyship 
Could least, methinks, supply — a piece of wit 
Without a tongue ; that is, a piece of parchment 
Writ o'er with verses. 

SQUIRE 
Verses ! Sir, a word. 
\_Draws Chaucer aside to the arbour and whispers^ 

JOHANNA 
A clever rogue ! He'd make an apt court-fool. 

• CHAUCER 
\_Aside to Squire^ 
No ; these lost verses were a mere description — 
To fit my prologue — of a dainty nun. 
Poking some gentle mirth at her ; of use 
To none save me ; but faith ! I grudge 'em dearly. 

SQUIRE 
Did you find time to write — the other verses } 

CHAUCER 

The others } 

SQUIRE 

To my lady. 

H 



98 THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 



CHAUCER 

Those you sent for ? 



Did not you like them ? 

SQUIRE 

I ? I sent for none, sir. 

JOHANNA 

\_Aside.'\ 

Still whispering ? Faith ! Hath my Aubrey lost 

Both heart and manners to this tavern rhymester ? 

I will not have it. 

SQUIRE 

\_To Chaucer. '\ 

But I sent no friar ! 

CHAUCER 
He took your mistress's verses, saying you 
Had sent for them by him. 

JOHANNA 

Excuse me, sirs : 
That arbour-seat has room for two to sit, 
Providing we choose wisely from us three. 

CHAUCER 

Your choice is fate. 

SQUIRE 
\Aside to Chaucer as they enter the arbour^ 

The friar must have stolen them. 

\_ Johanna and the Squire sit ; Chaucer stands talking with 
them, his back toward the arbour's entrance.'] 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 99 

\_Enter^ right, from inn, the Prioress and Friar, the former 
reading a parchment.^ 

PRIORESS 
The verse is very beautiful. 

FRIAR 

Is't not 
Enough to make the Muse weep amber ? Zipp ! 
'Tis honey'd moonbeams stored in lachrymals. 

PRIORESS 
\_Reads^ 

" Eglantine, 
O to be 
There with thee, 
Over sea, 
In olive-silvered Italy." 

But, gentle friar, why in Italy 
When I'm in England } 

FRIAR 

Dame, 'tis poetry. 
In poetry, all ladies have blue eyes 
And live in Italy. 

PRIORESS 

And is this truly 
For me ? 

FRIAR 

He bade me give it with this spray. 
LofC. 



100 THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

PRIORESS 
[ Taking the sprig of eglantine 7\ 
He is so chivalrous ! But I must finish. 
" In olive-silvered Italy. 

There to pray 
At thy shrine, 
There to lay 
This green spray 
Of our English eglantine. 
At thy feet. 

Lady mine, 
Then wouldst thou say : 

* Pilgrim sweet 

In Padua, 
Take it ; it is thine.' " 
Is Padua short for Bob-up-and-down } 

FRIAR 
Yes, dame. 

\_Asider\ 

And now to watch my experiment 
Precipitate rose-colour. 

PRIORESS 
l^Sighs^^ 

Almost finished ! 
\_Reads^ 

" Say not nay ! 
Fairest, dearest, far away. 
Donna Eglantine." 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS loi 

FRIAR 

Alas, Madame, I did but do my duty. 
He bade me bring them. 

PRIORESS 

From my heart, I thank you. 
They're very beautiful. 

FRIAR 

But amorous, 
I fear ; they are love-wtxs^s. 

PRIORESS 

Are they } Sure, 
I thought them sweet. He is so chivalrous. 

FRIAR - 

\_Aside, takes out his stolen parchment.'] 

Soft, then, I'll try the other. This should bring 

The explosion. 

\_Rattles the parchitient^ 

PRIORESS 
\_Eagerlyf laying the fi^-st parchment on the table.'] 
Did he send more verses } 

FRIAR 

Nay, 

He sent no more, though from his pouch there fell 
This parchment ; but methinks he would desire you 
Not to peruse it. 

\_Turning as if to leave, he discovers the tJwee conversing in 

the arbour^ 



102 THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

PRIORESS 

Me! 

FRIAR 

Yes, dame, for it 
Describes you. 

PRIORESS 

How? 

FRIAR 

Alas ! In different vein 
From the other. 

PRIORESS 

Different } 
\_Defnanding it with a gesture^ 
Quickly ! 

FRIAR 

'Tis my duty. 
\^Hands her the manuscript^ 

PRIORESS 
\_Snatching it; readsJ] 
" There was also a nun, a prioress, 
That of her smiling was full simple and coy ; 
The greatest oath she swore was * by St. Loy ! ' " 
O ciel ! O quel outrage ! 

[^IVhi/e she reads on to herself, changing visibly to pique and 
tears, the Friar, purloining the first parchment from 
the table, trips over to the arbour'^s entrance and bows."] 

FRIAR 

Diner est servi ! 
Messieurs, you are awaited by a lady. 

[Runs off."] 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 103 

CHAUCER 
\To Squire, '\ 
Quick ! Catch him ! 

JOHANNA 

\To Squire. '\ 

Stay! "A lady?" 

\_Pursued, the Friar drops his parchment, and, as the Squire 

stops to pick it up, escapes at the garden gate.'\ 

PRIORESS 

\_Holding her parchme7it, confronts Chaucer 7\ 

Stay, Monsieur. 
\Reads?^ 

"And French she spake (St. Patrick taught her how !)" 

You hear, Monsieur — '' St. Patrick taught her how ! " 

Oh, where is my Jacquette ! 

SQUIRE 
VJ^lf^^^fy ' gi(incing at the other parch7nent7\ 

These are the verses ! 
[Hands the parchment eagerly to Johanna.'] 

CHAUCER 
Madame, be calm. I will explain. 



PRIORESS 



Non, non. 



JOHANNA 
IReads.] 
" Eglantine, 
O to be 
There with thee — " 
[To Squire."] 
Wrote you these verses, sir .? Who's Eglantine } 



104 ^-^^ CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

SQUIRE 

Why, lady, she — 

PRIORESS 
\To Chaucer. '\ 
How could you write them ? 

CHAUCER 

Patience, 
Dear Madame Eglantine — 

JOHANNA 

Ha ! Eglantine ! 

CHAUCER 
\_To Prioress, distracted.'] 
Which verses do you mean ? I wrote them not 

To you ! 

PRIORESS 

What, not to me ? Those gracious lines. 
So exquisite ? 

CHAUCER 

Good God ! 

SQUIRE 
\^To Johatina.'] 

Upon my truth. 
These verses are for you. Let me explain — 

JOHANNA 

Nay, let your friend. 

\Showing her parchment to Chaucer. "] 

Sir, did you write these verses } 

CHAUCER 

I did ! 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 105 

PRIORESS 
\_Showing her pare hment.~\ 
And these, Monsieur ? 









CHAUCER 


I did. 




To 


whom did 


you 


JOHANNA 
write these ? 




And pray 








CHAUCER 
JOHANNA 
PRIORESS 


To you, 


Heaven ! 



To her ! 

[ Unseen^ save by the audience, the cellar door is opened, part 

way, and Alisoun peers out, dressed in the Knighfs 

clothes, but still without a make-up. She winks to 

Huberd, whose head bobs up a moment from behind 

the wall.'] 

SQUIRE 

\_To Johanna.'] 
Sweet mistress — 

JOHANNA 

I demand to know 
Who is this rhyming man ? Who was his father ? 

CHAUCER 

My father was a vintner, dame, in London. 

PRIORESS 
A vintner ? 

SQUIRE 

[ With pleading deprecation.] 
Sir — 



I06 THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

JOHANNA 
Small marvel that his son 
Should be a cask. 

ALISOUN 
\Aside, jubilantly^ 
God save my betters ! 

JOHANNA 
\To Squii-e^ 

You could but guess the Olympian pedigree — " 
Saints ! Take me to my guardian, sir. 

PRIORESS 

\_To Chaucer.'] 

Ah ! bring 

Me to my brother ! O Monsieur ! How false ! 

FRIAR 
\_From behind the wall, sings !\ 
Love is a liar, 
But lovers love the pleasant friar. 
Who, making of their burdens less — 

CHAUCER AND SQUIRE 

That friar ! 

FRIAR 
[^Popping his head above the wall with a mock gesture of bene- 
diction, sings,] 

Ben'cite ! 
(Thus singeth he.) 
Bene — benedicite ! 

Explicit pars secunda. 



ACT THIRD 

« WiTE ye nat wher ther stant a litel toun 
Which that y-cleped is Bob-up-and-doun, 
Under the Blee, in Caunterbury weye ?" 



ACT III 

Time : Evening of the same day. 

Scene: The hall of the One Nine-pin. 

At the opening of the act all the Pilgrims are on the stage, 
except the follow itjg : Miller, Shipman, Cook, Manciple, 
SuMMONER, Knight, Alisoun, Chaucer, and Wycliffe. 

Owing to the overcrowding of the little inn, the hall is 
arranged, for the night, as a com?non sleeping-room. 
Up stage, right, is a great canopied bedstead, with steps 
to climb into it. Along the right wall are truckle-beds. 
As the curtain rises, a clear bell is heard ringing outside, 
slow and musical. By the light of a single torch, the 
Pilgrims are seen, some putting on their cloaks and 
hoods, some peering from behind the bed-curtains, others 
taking links fro ?n a tap-boy, who distribtites them. These, 
as they are lit, throw an ever stronger light upon the 
grouped faces and contrasted garbs of the company. 
The Parson is Just waking the Ploughman, who drowses 
on a truckle-bed. 

PARSON 

Up, brother; yon's the chapel bell. 

PLOUGHMAN 

It rings 
For thee ; thou art the parson, Jankin. 

109 



no THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

PARSON 

Nay, 

The preacher will be Wycliffe, old good Master 
De Wycliffe. 

MERCHANT 

Old good Master Weak-liver ! 

PARSON 

\_Turns angrily J\ 
Sir! 

MAN-OF-LAW 

Old good Master Black-sheep ! 



PARSON 
\_Turns.'\ 

MONK 



Sir! s 

Old Nick ! 



PARSON 
[ Turns ^ 
Whom name you thus ? 

MONK 

Your preacher. Faugh ! The pope 
Hath bann'd him with five bulls for heresy. 

PLOUGHMAN 

The old man hath a good grip, if he can 
Hold five bulls by the horns. 

MAN-OF-LAV^ 
\Aside to Priest.'] 

An ignoramus ! 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS in 

BOTTLEJOHN 

Dick, fetch a pint of moist ale from the cellar 

For Master Bailey here. 

\_Aside.'\ 

A small pint, mind, 
And notch his tally. 

DICK 
\^Takes a stick front wall, notches it with his knife ^ and shows 

it to Bottlejohn.~\ 

Sixpence, sir, three farthings. 

[^Dick theft goes to the cellar door. As he opens it, he is 
grabbed within by the Miller , handed breathlessly to the 
Shipman, who claps his hands over the bofs inouth, and 
disappears with him below. The door then is closed, 
but at intervals it opens and the Miller's head is seen 
cautiously to emerge. ~\ 

MERCHANT 
This Wycliffe's gab hath hurt good trade. 'Twas him, 
Six year ago, whose preaching made the poor folk 
March up to London- town with Wat the Tyler, 
And burn the gentry's houses. 



DYER 



Served 'em right ! 



PLOUGHMAN 

God save Wat Tyler ! 

MONK 
Peasant ! Spit upon thee ! 

PARSON 
Thou son of Antichrist ! 



112 THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

MONK 

Thou unhang'd Lollard ! 

BOTTLEJOHN 

Sst ! Sst ! Good masters ! Pray, sweet lordings, 
here 

Comes Master WycHffe. 

\_Enier, in conversation^ Wycliffe and Cylaxscer, followed by 
Johanna, who seeks to draw Wycliffe away. The Pil- 
grims greet the last, some with shouts of welcome ^ others 
with hisses.~\ 

WYCLIFFE 

\_To Chaucer.'] 

Certes, sir, it may 
Be as you say. — Good folk ! good children ! — Yet 
To me this England is a gorgeous tabard, 
Blazon'd with shining arms and kingly shields ; 
A cloth of gold, blood-dyed with heraldries 
Of knightly joustings, presbyterial pomps. 
And red-wine reveUings ; cunningly, i' the fringe, 
Chaced round with little lutes and ladies' Cupids 
To snuggle the horse-hair lining. This brave shirt. 
This inward-goading cloth of gaiety. 
The poor, starved peasant wears on his bare back — ■ 
A ghost, that plays the bridegroom with's despair. 

PLOUGHMAN 
[^Amongst sneers and applause.'] 

Right ! 

WYCLIFFE 

\_To Chaucer.] 
Friend, how seems it thee .•* 



/^ 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 113 

CHAUCER 

Sir, with your pardon, 
To me, our England is still " Merry England ! " 
Which nature cirqued with its green wall of seas 
To be her home and hearth-stone ; where no slave, 
Though e'er he crept in her lap, was nursed of her; 
But the least peasant, bow'd in lonely fief. 
Might claim his free share in her dower of grace ; 
The hush, pied daisy for's society. 
The o'erbubbling birds for mirth, the silly sheep 
F'or innocence. — Mirth, friendship, innocence : 
Where nature grants these three, what's left for envy ? 
These three, sir, serve for my theology. 

MAN-OF-LAW 
Parfoi ! What is this man — a Papist .-* Is't 
Some courtier } 

FRANKLIN 

Naw ! He rings true Lollard, him. 
They're friends. 

PARDONER 
\Sniffs^ 
They say it is a London vintner. 

WYCLIFFE 
\^Aside, to Johanna J indicating Chaucer^ 
Not speak with him } 

JOHANNA 

On no account. 

WYCLIFFE 

But — 



1 14 THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

JOHANNA 

'Tis 

A villain. Pray, sir, come to chapel. 

\_She hurries Wycliffe toward the door, where she is accosted, 
deseechifigly, by the Squire.~\ 

SQUIRE 

Mistress ! 

JOHANNA 

Am I beset .? 

\_Indicating Chaucer^ 

Join your conspirator, 
Signore ! 

\_She sweeps out.'] 

SQUIRE 
[^FonowingJ] 
Grace, Madonna, grace ! 
\_Entery right, Eglantine , with her priests.] 

CHAUCER 
\_Aside, sees her.~\ 

My lady ! 

PARSON 
\_To Ploughman.'] 
Quick, mon, and light the way for Master Wycliffe. 

\_Exeunt.] 



Go you ? 



MERCHANT 
\_To Man-of-Law.] 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 115 

MAN-OF-LAW 
\_Smiles ironically.'] 

Hein ? When an ass comes out of Oxford, 
His braying charms great ears. 

[^LowerJ] 

They say he hath 
A patron in John Gaunt. 

[ They go out.'] 

BOTTLEJOHN 
[ Calls.] 

Dick ! Drat thee, Dick ! 
Ned, fetch Dick from the cellar with that ale 
For Master Bailey. 

NED 
[ Goes slowly.] 
Can I 'ave a candle } 
\_The Host gives him such a look that he hastens on.] 

BOTTLEJOHN 

\_To Bailey.] 
The^e 'prentices ! 

BAILEY 

Haw ! Haw ! 

MONK 
\_To Pardoner.] 

Come, we'll go twit him. 

[^Exeunt toward chapel.] 
[^As Ned is about to open the cellar door, a black face looks 

out at him.] 



Il6 THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

NED 
\_Running l?ack.~\ 
Ow ! Ow ! A devil's head ! I seed a spook ! 

BOTTLEJOHN 
[Seizing a ladle, drives him backJ] 
Scat ! And the devil swallow thee ! Skedaddle ! 
Feared o' the dark ! 

NED 
\_Goes whimperingJ] 

'E'll drub me wi' his thigh-bones. 

\_Ope fling the door, he feels his way down. As the door 
closes, a faint scream comes from within^ 

CHAUCER 
\To Prioress, who, preceded by her three priests, is about to 

go out.~\ 

Madame, goes she to chapel ? 

PRIORESS 

Paul, Joannes, 

Keep close. 

CHAUCER * • 

Si chere Madame — if dear my lady 
Would vouchsafe but a moment, till — 

PRIORESS 
[Pausing, but not looking at Chaucer."] 

Eh bien ? 

CHAUCER 
[ Confused.] 
The night is very beautiful. 



^ 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 117 

PRIORESS 

Joannes ! 

CHAUCER 
That is — I bring you tidings of your brother. 

JOANNES 

What would Madame ? 

CHAUCER 

The moon — 

PRIORESS 
\To Joannes^ 

Go, go — to chapel. 

JOANNES 
But will Madame — 

PRIORESS 

Va! Va! — 

\_Exeunt priests ; she turns shyly to Chaucer^ 

Alors, Monsieur, 

Vous dites mon f r^re } — 

CHAUCER 

Your brother — 
\_Aside, as they go out.'] 

Drown her brother ! 



Come on ! 



WEAVER 
iTo Dyer.] 

\_Exeunt omnes.~\ 



Il8 THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

BOTTLEJOHN 

\_Blo'wing out a candle r^ 

This preaching saveth tallow. 

{_Calls.'\ 

Dick ! 
Ned ! Slow knaves ! 

\^Exit right ^ 

\^Cautiously, the cellar door is opened, and enter the Mil- 
ler. He whistles softly ; some one within whistles in 
answer.~\ 

MILLER 

Be all gagged below there ? 

SHIPMAN 

\_His head appearing,"] 

Aye, 
All's tight beneath the hatches. Is the deck clear ? 
\_Miller nods; Shipman disappears for an instant. Then the 
Miller bows low.] 

MILLER 

This way, your lordship — 

COOK 

[Appearing with Shipman.] 

'Save your Worship ! 

\_Enter Summoner, Manciple, and Huberd, the latter dis- 
guised as a chim7tey-sweep. Lastly j Alisoun in the dress 
of the Knight.] 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 1 19 

ALL THE SWAINS 

Hail, 
Dan Roderigo ! 

ALISOUN 
[ While the Swains assist in adjusting her disguise.'] 
Good my squires and henchmen, 
I thank you. — Roger, sweetheart, lace my boot 

there. — 
Our journey hath been perilous and dark — 
Bob, chuck, how sits my doublet ? — but praise Mary, 
I am preserved to greet my virgin sister ; — 
God send she like the flavour of my beard 
Better than me. 

FRIAR 

Let me amend it, sweet ! 
\_Kisses her.] 

ALISOUN 

Avaunt, vile chimney-sweep! Beshrew thee, Huberd 
Love, wouldst thou swap complexions } 
[^Looks in a pewter plate ^ while the Cook holds cC candle.] 

Thy smut nose 
Hath blotched the lily pallor of my brow 
Like a crushed violet. Some powder, quick, 
And touch it off. 

FRIAR 
\_From his robe and cowl, which the Shipman holds, extracts 
a rabbifs foot and toilches up Alisoun^s face, while the 
Manciple helps her on with a scarlet-lined mantle.] 

Sweet love, how liketh you 
This cloak I stole } 



I20 THE CAN'TERBURY PILGRIMS 

ALISOUN 

'Twill serve. 



FRIAR 
\_B owing. '\ 



Your valet is 



Your abject Ethiop slave. 



MILLER 
\_Kicks him.~\ 

Your nincumpoop ! 
Scarecat! Thou blacks thy friar's skin to save it, 
Lest the fat vintner and the young squire catch thee 
And flay it off. 

FRIAR 

Even so. 

SUMMONER 

By quid, let's blab, then. 
He kissed her, and we'll blab. 

COOK, MANCIPLE, and SHIPMAN 

Aye! 

ALISOUN 

Wo betide ye. 
Then ! Down ! Kneel down — the batch of ye — 

and swear. 
As ye have hopes to win this lily-white hand. 
Ye will be brothers, till I win my bet. 
Out with your oaths, now. Kiss my foot and say, 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 12 1 

By Venus's lip, 
And Alis's hip, 
I swear to keep 
This fellowship ! 

ALL 

\_Severally trying to kiss her extended foot^ 

By Venus's lip. 
And Alis's hip, 
I swear to keep — 



Ned ! Dick ! 



BOTTLEJOHN 
\^Calls outside^ 



ALISOUN 
[/;? low voicey to Swains.'] 
Get out ! Back to your cellar ; guard 
The knight and the two knaves. Whoever enters 
Gag 'em and tie. 

BOTTLEJOHN 
\_Entering.~\ 
Dick ! Ned ! The devil take 



All 'prentices ! 



ALISOUN 
[Retaining Friar.] 
Hist! 

[^Staying the Miner.] 

Bob! 

\_To the others.] 

Go! Go! 



122 THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

BOITLEJOHN 

I wonder 
Was it a spook he saw ! 'Tis dark. 

\Takes up an unlit candle J\ 

ALISOUN • 

Mind, when he strikes 
A light, I am the devil, and your feet 
Are hoofs. 

BOTTLEJOHN 

Folk say they dwell in cellars. 



• FRIAR 

I'll sprinkle a pinch of this sal volatile 
r the candle flame. 



Soft! 



BOTTLEJOHN 
\Lights catidle.~\ 

I'll take my crucifix. 

\_IIe is about to go toward the priedieu, when the Friar 
thrusts his hand over the candle flame. A vivid flash of 
light reveals his black face to Bottlejohn.'\ 

FRIAR 
Succubus ! Incubus ! 
Praestare omnibus ! 

BOTTLEJOHN 

\_Drops the candle, which goes out.'\ 
Help! 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 123 

ALISOUN 

Silence ! 
[ On the hearth the Friar lights a dull red flame, which throws 
a flickering glow about the room.'] 

BOTTLEJOHN 
[71? Alisoun.'] 
O ! what art thou ? Dost thou laugh ? 
What is thy name ? 

ALISOUN 

My name is Lucifer. 
These be my urchins, Belial and Moloch. 
Salaam ! Salaam ! 

FRIAR AND MILLER 
\_Salaaming.~\ 
Hail, Mephistophilis ! 

ALISOUN 
\_To Host.'] 

What thing art thou ? — Duck ! 

BOTTLEJOHN 
\_Ducks as the Miller pricks him with a dirk.'] 

I be Bottlejohn, 
The host o' the One Nine-pin. 

ALISOUN 

Bottlejohn, 
Thee and thy One Nine-pin I damn. For know, 
Thy cellar is the attic over hell, 



124 ^-^^ CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

And hath been leaking bad ale through my ceiling 
This seven year, and made a puddle deep 
As Proserpina's garter in her bridal 
Chamber, where thy two knaves — 

BOTTLEJOHN 

What ! Ned and Dick ? 

ALISOUN 
Came plumping through head-downwards into hell 
Like bullfrogs in a tarn. 

MILLER 

And drowned ! and drowned ! 
Shalt thou in thine own ale. 

\Leads him toward cellar^ 

BOTTLEJOHN 

O Virgin ! 



Whist ! 



FRIAR 
\^At door, backJ] 

One comes. 

BOTTLEJOHN 

Help! help! 

ALISOUN 
\_To Miller.'] 

Quick, Belial, lug thine ass 
Into his stall. Instruct him with thy whittle 
What manner devils we are, and when I clap 
My hands thus and cry " Host ! " then lead him forth. 

\_Exeunt Miller and Bottlejohn into cellar. To Friar ^ 
Meantime, my pixy, hide we here. 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 125 

FRIAR 

Sweet lord — 

\_They hide in the cupboard. Enter ^ left, Chaucer and 

Prioress. ~\ 

PRIORESS 

Parlez tou jours, Monsieur ! 
Parlez tou jours ! 

CHAUCER 
How silver falls the night ! 
The hills lie down like sheep ; the young frog flutes ; 
The yellow-ammer, from his coppice, pipes 
Drowsy rehearsals of his matin-song ; 
The latest swallow dips behind the stack. 
What beauty dreams in silence ! The white stars, 
Like folded daisies in a summer field, 
Sleep in their dew, and by yon primrose gap 
In darkness' hedge, St. Ruth hath dropped her sickle. 

PRIORESS 

Nay, yonder's the new moon. 

CHAUCER 

But here's St. Ruth, 
Whose pity hath reprieved a vintner's son. 
Your nephew's verses — 

PRIORESS 

Pray speak not of them ; 

That wicked Friar Huberd was to blame. 

But now — 

\_Turntng to the casement.^ 

The moon, Monsieur ; parlez. Monsieur ! 



126 THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

CHAUCER . 
\_Aside.'\ 
" Parlez, Monsieur." How shall I trust myself ? 

\_Aloud.'\ 

I may not, dear Madame. If I should speak, 
My heart would run in passages too sweet 
For this cloy'd planet. 

PRIORESS 
{^Pointing through casement to the sky.'\ 

Mais — parlez, Monsieur. 

CHAUCER 

Yea, if perchance there were some other star — 

PRIORESS 

Some other star — 

CHAUCER 

Some star unsurfeited. 
Some blessed star, where hot and lyric youth 
Pours not swift torment in the veins of age ; 
Where Passion — gorgeous cenobite — blurs not 
With fumid incense of his own hot breath 
The hallow'd eyes of sweet Philosophy ; 
Where body battens not upon the soul. 
But both are Reason's arigels, and Love's self — 
Pontifical in daisy-chains — doth hold 
High mass at nature's May-pole ; — if such star 
There were in all God's heaven, and such indeed 
Were ours, there would I speak and utter, not 
" Dear Eglantine, I love you," but '* We love." 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 127 

PRIORESS 

Monsieur, 'tis true. 

CHAUCER 

The simple truth, once said, 
Is very sweet, Madame. 

PRIORESS 

Merci, Monsieur. 

ALISOUN 

Whist, Huberd ; are they gone } 

FRIAR 

Nay. 

ALISOUN 

Did he kiss. her? 
Bones ! Are they dumb ! 

FRIAR 

Art jealous, dame } 

ALISOUN 

Shut up ! 

CHAUCER 
\_At the window?^ 
Some other star ! Choose, lady, which is ours } 

PRIORESS 
Yonder cool star that hides its winking light 
Like a maid that weeps — but not for heaviness. 

CHAUCER 
Ha ! If I were Prometheus now, I'd filch it 
From out the seventh crystal sphere for you 
And 'close it in this locket. 

\_Seizes her hand.~\ 



128 THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS ^ 

PRIORESS 

Nay, that holds 
My brother's hair. 

CHAUCER 
\_Dropping her hand, looks away into the night.'] 
We dream. 

PRIORESS 

Of what, Monsieur ? 

CHAUCER 

We dream that we are back in Eden garden 
And that the gates are shut — and sin outside. 

PRIORESS 
Why, such in truth is love. 

CHAUCER 

Yes, such in truth 
But not in fact, dear lady. Such sweet truth 
Grows only on God's tree ; we may behold 
And crave immortally, but may not pluck it 
Without the angel's scourge. — " When Adam 

delved " — 
Aye, then he dragged both heaven and earth and hell 
Along with him. — O God ! this suzerain mansion 
Where saints and crown'd philosophers discourse 
Familiarly together as thy guests — 
This ample palace of poesie, the mind — 
Hath trap-doors sunk into a murky vault, 
Where passion's serfs lie sprawling. 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 129 

PRIORESS 

I am afraid ! 

CHAUCER 

Forgive me, O sweet lady ! I seem not 
All that I am. 

PRIORESS 

[ Timidly^ 

What are you ? 

CHAUCER 

Do you ask ? 
Why, then, for this dull, English bulk, 'tis true 
A London vintner gat it ; but for this 
My moving soul, I do believe it is 
Some changeling sprite, the bastard of a god. 
Sprung from Pan's loins and white Diana's side. 
That, like a fawn, I fain must laugh and love 
Where the sap runs ; yet, like an anchorite, 
Pore on the viewless beauty of a book : 
Not more enamoured (when the sun is out) 
O' the convent rose, than of the hoyden milkweed 
Bold in my path. Life, in whatever cup. 
To me is a love-potion. In one breath. 
My heart hath pealed the chimes above St. Paul's 
And rung an alewife's laughter. 

ALISOUN 
\_Aside to the Friar. '\ 

Bless his heart 
And waistband ! Heard ye that } 

K 



130 THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

PRIORESS 
[ Who has listened, iostJ] 

To hear you speak 
Is sweeter than the psalter. Do not stop. 

CHAUCER 
\_Asidef smiling.'] 

Dear Lady Dreams ! — 

[^Aloud.] 

Hark ! Footsteps from the chapel. 

[Goes to the door.] 

It is your nephew and his lady-love. 
Let's step aside before I introduce you, 
And profit by these pangs of " lyric youth." 
[ Chaucer and the Prioress step aside, as enter, left, Johanna 

and the Squire^ 



Stay ! 

Leave me ! 



SQUIRE 

JOHANNA 

SQUIRE 

Hear me ! 



JOHANNA 

Is the house of prayer 
No sanctuary that you drag me from it } 

SQUIRE 
Donna, the cloudy-pillar'd dome o' the air 
Alone can roof a lover's house of prayer. 

JOHANNA 

More verses ? Send 'em to your lady nun. 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 131 

SQUIRE 

O heartless bosom ! Cold concave of pity ! 
Whet thy disdain upon the heart-shaped stone 
Lodged, like a ruby, in that marble breast, 
And slay me with the onyx of thine eye. 

JOHANNA 

Pray, did your Geoffrey write that ? 

SQUIRE 

Do not scorn him. 

He named you " Eglantine " because " Johanna " 

Was not euphonious. 

JOHANNA 

Because "Johanna" 
Was not — 

SQUIRE 

Euphonious. But " Eglantine " — 

JOHANNA 
But " Eglantine " was all symphonious. 
" Johanna " — ha .? — was not mellifluous 
Enough to woo me ! So a honeysuckle, 
An eglantine, must be my proxy — ha } 
Go ! go ! Hide in the night — Go ! Kill thyself ! 

SQUIRE 
\At the door.'\ 
O sky ! thy noon was a broad, glorious mirror, 
Which now hath fallen from its frame and shattered ; 
And little stars, like points of glass, they prick me 
That gather back my grains of crushed joy. 



132 THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

JOHANNA 
\_At the wi?idow.~\ 

O starry night ! thou art Fortune's playing-card, 
All bright emboss'd with little shining hearts 
That dash our own with destiny. Oh, false ! 

\^Turns.~\ 
Go ! — to your Eglantine ! 

SQUIRE 

Johanna ! 

CHAUCER 
\Speaks from the darkness^ 
Hide, Cleopatra, thy Egyptian hair ! 

JOHANNA 

Hark! 

CHAUCER 

Esther, let melt thy meekness as the snow. — 

JOHANNA 
\_Di'aws nearer to Squire^ 
What is 't ? 

CHAUCER 

Hide, Ariadne, all thy beauties bare ! 

SQUIRE 

Who speaks } 

CHAUCER 

Penelope and Marcia Cato, 

Drown all your wifely virtues in the Po. — 

JOHANNA 

Good Aubrey, strike a light. 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 133 

CHAUCER 

Isold and Helen, veil your starlit eyes — 
Johanna comes, that doth you jeopardise ! 

\_The Squire lights a candle ^ revealing Chaucer. '^ 

JOHANNA 
O monster ! It is he. 

\_Chaucer takes the candle from the Squire* s hand, and, 
holding it high, approaches Johanna, thereby throwing 
the Prioress into his own shadow.^ 

SQUIRE 
Nay, gentle sir! 

CHAUCER 

Laodamia, Hero, and Dido, 
And Phyllis, dying for thy Demophon, 
And Canace, betroth'd of Cambalo, — 
Polixena, that made for love such moan, 
Let envy gnaw your beauties to the bone ; 
Yea, Hypermnestra, swoon in envious sighs — 
JoJianna comes, that doth you jeopardise ! 

JOHANNA 
Oh, thank you — both. Squire, I congratulate 
Your cunning chivalry on luring me 
From church to bait me in this bear-trap. 



SQUIRE 

Upon my honour — 



Lady, 



\^To Chaucer^ 
Good sir — 



134 THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

\_To Johanna.'] 

Nay, fear nothing. 
Indeed, if you but knew — 

JOHANNA 
\_Caiching sight of Prioress^ 

If I but knew ! 
St. Ann ! I know too much. 

SQUIRE 

You would be proud 

To have him rhyme your name. Sir, I protest 

Had I conceived how fair "Johanna" sounds 

In verse — 

CHAUCER 

\_Siernlyr\ 
Hold, signorino ! Was it thus 
You bade me sonnetise your Eglantine .'* 
You said yourself — 

SQUIRE 

In sooth, that " Eglantine " 
Is sweeter. 

JOHANNA 

Ugh! 

CHAUCER 

There you were false. For know 
As ocean-shells give back the mermaid's sigh, 
The conches of a lover's ears should hold 
Eternal murmurs of his mistress' name. 
''Johanna" should have been thy conjure-word 
To raise all spirits; thy muses' nam de pbtme ; 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 



135 



"Johanna" should have learnt thy brook to purl, 
Thy pine to sorrow, and thy lark to soar ; 
And nightmgales, forswearing Tereus' name. 
Have charmed thy wakeful midnight with ** Johanna." 

JOHANNA 
\_To Chaucer^ 
Roland of Champions ! Ringrazio ! 
Now, pray, what says the other lady ? 

SQUIRE 

The other ? 

JOHANNA 
\_To Prioress^ 
Dame Eglantine, your most obsequious. 

PRIORESS 

Votre servante. — I also, Mademoiselle, 
Have been at court. 

JOHANNA 

Does not Madame applaud, then, 
This vintner's courtly eloquence } 

PRIORESS 

I think 

Monsieur will soon explain how this good youth 

And I are dearly tied unto each other. 

SQUIRE 
What ! I — and you, Madame } 



136 THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

JOHANNA 

It seems the trap 
Hath caught the hunters. 

\_Aside.'\ 

Oh, my heart ! 

SQUIRE 

I swear 
I do not know this lady. 

JOHANNA 

What ! you swear ! 

\_Aside.'\ 
Not perjury.? 

SQUIRE 

I swear that we are strangers ; 
Of no relationship, and least of love. 

JOHANNA 

Oh, Aubrey, is this true ? 

SQUIRE 

Why, Mistress — 

CHAUCER 

\_A.side to Squire.'] 

Soft ! 
Walk with this nun a moment. 

SQUIRE 

Sir? 

CHAUCER * 

Dost trust me } 

SQUIRE 

Yes, but — 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 137 

CHAUCER 
\_Indicating Johanna^ 
I'll reconcile her. 

\_Aside to Prioress^ 

Tell him all, 
Madame. Leave us alone a moment. 

SQUIRE 

But — 

CHAUCER 
\^Aloud.'\ 
I will not play the hypocrite. 

PRIORESS 
\To Squire^ as they go out.~\ 

Dear Aubrey — 

JOHANNA 

" Dear Aubrey ! " Gone ! gone ! and with her. O base 

Conspiracy ! — To leave me ! 

\_To Chaucer.'] 

Stand aside! 
CHAUCER 
Nay, do not follow. 

JOHANNA 

I .? I follow her? 
Follow the lost Francesca into Limbo ! 
She's damned. I seek my ward, De Wycliffe. 

CHAUCER 

Stay ! 

JOHANNA 

St. Winifred ! You'll force — .? 

CHAUCER 

Donna, my heart 
Bleeds tears for you. 



138 THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

JOHANNA 

Stand by ! 



CHAUCER 

So seeming virtuous — 



That one so young, 



JOHANNA 

" So seeming " — thanks ! 

CHAUCER 
As this young squire should, at one look from his — 
Should, at one look, forsake your ladyship 
For his — alas ! But such is man ! The bonds 
Which nature forges chain us to the flesh, 
Though angels pry the links. 

JOHANNA 

The bonds which nature ? — 

CHAUCER 

Yes, nature : 'tis not love. Had it been love. 
Would he have turned, even in his vows of truth. 
And left you with his — ah ! it chokes me. Nay, 
Go, go, great marchioness, seek out your ward ; 
I crave your pardon. 
\^Bowing, he steps aside. Johanna^ passing disdainfully to 

the door^ there pauses^ and turns to Chaucer, as though 

he had spoke?!.'] 

JOHANNA 

Well } 

[ Chaucer retires right.'] 

'Tis very dark. 

\_Returning.] 
I will wait here. 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 139 

CHAUCER 

In sadness, honoured lady, 
I take my leave. 

\_IIe goes to the door; Johanna rises uneasily 7^ 
Yet I beseech your grace' 
Will never hint to that poor youth, my friend. 
The secret I let sHp. 

JOHANNA 
\_Aside^ 
'' Let sHp ! " The booby ! — 
He thinks he's told me who she is. Soft ! now 

I'll worm it out. 

\_Aloud^ 

Wait ; if I promise never 
To hint the thing we know — you understand. 

CHAUCER 

That's it. 

JOHANNA 

One moment. Master Geoffrey. I 
Have rallied you somewhat on your paternal 
Vintage. 

CHAUCER 

To be hit by your Grace's wit 
Is to die smiling. 

JOHANNA 
\^Aside^ 
How the big fish bites ! 
\_Aloudf effusively.'] 

But you'll forgive me } 'Tis my nature, those 
To banter whom I best adore. 



140 THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

\_Detaching a knot of ribbon from her gown, she offers it to 

Chaucer r\ 

Pray, sir, — 

CHAUCER 

For me ? — A love-knot ! By your Grace's favours 
I am bewildered. 

JOHANNA 

Keep it as a pledge — 
For you are Aubrey's friend, my Aubrey's friend — 
As pledge that I will never, so help me Heaven, 
Reveal to him my knowledge of his secret, 
How Eglantine is his — oh, word it for me, 
For I am heartsick. 

CHAUCER 

Trust me, honoured lady. 
You have done bravely. For did he suspect 
That I have even whispered to you how 
That nun, whose sensuous name he bade me rhyme 
In verses meant for you, that Prioress, 
Whose cloistral hand even now, lock'd in his palm. 
Leads here your Aubrey, how that vestal maid 
Hath lived for months, nay years, your lover's — oh! 



JOHANNA 
\Seizes Chaucer's arm^ 
His what f In God's name, speak it ! His 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 141 

CHAUCER 

His aunt ! 
\_Blows out the candk.~\ 

JOHANNA 

His aunt ? 

CHAUCER 

\_Goijig off in the darkJ] 

O shire of Kent ! thou shire of Kent ! 

To sit with thee in parUament 

Doth not content 

Me, verayment, 

Like laughing at lovers after Lent. 

Haha ! Hahaha ! 

\_Extt.'\ 

Ho ! Shire of Kent ! 

JOHANNA 
So — Kent ? He mocks my title, doth he ? 
O gall ! If he have made a fool of me — 
Yet, if he've made a fool of me, O sweet, 
Sweet gall ! 

SQUIRE 
[ Outside.~\ 
Johanna ! 

JOHANNA 

Aubrey ! 

SQUIRE 
\_Returning with PrioressJ] 

He hath told thee? 



142 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 



JOHANNA 

Nay, hath he told me true f 

SQUIRE 

This is my aunt, 
Dame Eglantine, my father's sister. 

ALISOUN 

l^Aside.'] 

Death ! 

We must be quick. 

FRIAR 
\_Aside.~\ 
I'll win thy wager for thee. 
\_Exit Friar at door, front left.'] 

PRIORESS 
\_Extending her hand to Johanna.'] 
My nephew tells me you and he — 

JOHANNA 

Madame, 

I blush to think of my late rudeness ; 'twas 

My jealousy. Yet you should pardon it ; 

For you that wear St. Chastity's safe veil 

Can never know how blind St. Cupid plagues 

The eyes of worldlings. 

PRIORESS 

No.? 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 143 

SQUIRE 

Love, you forgive me ? 

\_Reenter Chaucer.~\ 

JOHANNA 
Forgive you ? By my heart — I'll think about it. 
Here comes our fool. Come hither, What's-your-name. 

CHAUCER 
[ Coming forward with the love-knot.~\ 
Your Grace's secret-monger. 

JOHANNA 

Tut! tut! 
\_Embarrassed^ motions hifn to put it away."] 

Rhymester, 
If thou wilt come to court, I'll have thee made 
Court-fool. 

SQUIRE 

[^Aside.^ 

O mistress, hush ! 

JOHANNA 

A cask of thy 
Diameter should keep King Richard drunk 
With laughter for a twelvemonth. Cask, I swear it. 
Thou shalt be made court-fool. 

SQUIRE 
[^Aside to Chaucer.~\ 

She doth not mean it. 



144 ^"^^ CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

PRIORESS 
\_Aside to Squire, ~\ 
Nephew, I cannot quite approve your choice. 

JOHANNA 
Nay, keep my knot ; my favour is renewed. 
I'll sue the king myself at Canterbury 
To swaddle thee in motley. 

[ Chaucer laughs aside. '\ 

— Well, no thanks .'' 

CHAUCER 
Lady, pray God I live to see that day. 

JOHANNA 
Amen. Now, Aubrey, where's your father } Let's 
Make merry all together. 

PRIORESS 

True, my brother ; 
Went he to chapel } 

SQUIRE 

Ladies, I am 'shamed 
To make confession of my selfishness : 
To-day, all day, in the sweet day and night 
Of my own thoughts I have been wandering. 
I have not seen my father since this morning. 
I'll go and seek him now. 

CHAUCER 

Nay, boy, remain. 
Doubtless he's gone to chapel. I will find him 
And bring him to you here. First, though, let me 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 145 

Anticipate my fool's prerogative 

And play the father to another's bairns, 

This vixen girl and boy. 

[ With an affectionate senile he draws Johanna and Aubrey 
together and kisses them.~\ 

God bless 'em both ! 



St. Loy ! No more } 



PRIORESS 
\_Aside.~\ 



JOHANNA 
Dear fool, thou'rt not so old. 
Come now, how old ? 

CHAUCER 

Ah, lass, my crop is rowen. 
When grey hairs creep like yarrow into clover. 
Farewell, green June ! Thy growing days be over. 

\_Aside.~\ 
Bewitching Eglantine ! 

\_Exit leftJ] 

PRIORESS 

\_At the casement, aside."] 

Some other star ! 

\_Aloud.'] 
Nephew ! 

\_The Squire and Johanna stand absorbed in their own 

whisperings.'] 

Nephew ! 



146 THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

SQUIRE 
Madame ! 



PRIORESS 

I pray you, tell 
Your father, when he comes, I am retired 
A moment to my room. 

SQUIRE 

I will, Madame. 
\_Exit Prioress, right, '\ 
My lady, we're alone. 

JOHANNA 

Alas, then come, 
Sit and be sad. 

\She sits in the niche by the fireplace^ 

SQUIRE 
Sad ? Must I wear a mask, then } 
Mistress ! Mistress, masks fall away from love 
Like husks from buds in April. By love's light 
Lovers can look through mountains to their joy 
As through these black beams I see heaven. Nay, 
Hear me ! When I have won my spurs — 

FRIAR 
\Sings within. '\ 
What, ho ! ■ What, ho 1 
Dan Cupido ! 
A spurless knight usurps thy halls. — 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 147 

JOHANNA 

What's that ? 

SQUIRE 
The friar ! 'Tis his voice. 

FRIAR 

\_Siiigs within 7\ 
Thy fortress falls, 
And all her rosed charms — 

JOHANNA 
Is't in the cellar ? 

SQUIRE 

Or the wall ? 

\They look up the chimney. ~\ 

FRIAR 

\_Sings within, '\ 

To arms, Dan Cupido ! To arms, 

Dan Cupido ! 

\JVith a rush of soot, he falls into the fireplace.'] 

Bon soir ! 

JOHANNA 

'Od's fiends ! 

SQUIRE 
\_Seizing Friar, drags him forth.] 

Sneak thief, at last I have thee — What ! 
A chimney-sweep ? 



148 THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

FRIAR 
Did scare the ladykin ? 

SQUIRE 
Was't thou that sung ? 

FRIAR 

Sung-la ? 

JOHANNA 
\_Brushing herself off^ 

My taffeta ! 

SQUIRE 
Sing ! Didst thou sing ? 

FRIAR 

Oh, sing ! You mean the friar, sir. 

SQUIRE 

[^Peremptorily. ] 
Where ? 

FRIAR 

In the cellar. He's a-hiding, sir. 

SQUIRE 
I warrant him. Here — 

\_Gives Friar a coin.'] 

Come, show me the scoundrel. 



A noble ! 



FRIAR 

[Examining coin.] 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 149 

[Singsr^ 

Oh, rare 

Sweet miller, 

Lady-killer, 

Not there, not there ! 

SQUIRE 

\_Eyeing Friar with suspicion^ 

What ? 

[ The Miller slips stealthily fro?n the cellar door and joins 

Alisoiin in the cupboard.'\ 

FRIAR 

Was't so he sung, sir ? 

SQUIRE 

Yes. 



JOHANNA 

\Still brushifig her gown.~\ 



Ruined ! 



FRIAR 

Sir, follow, sir. I know him well. 
A begging friar } 

SQUIRE 

Yes. — One moment. Mistress. — 
I'll flay the beggar. Now ! 

FRIAR 

\_The F7'iar opens cellar door ; Squire snatches his candle 
and precedes him.'] 

A sneaking friar — 
A noble ! — a swindling, skulking, lying friar. 



I50 THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

\_Aside to Bob Miller ^ who joins him from the cupboard.'\ 

O rare Bob-up-and-down ! 

\_Exeunt; Alisoun leaves the cupboard and exit stealthily at 

door, leftfront^ 

JOHANNA 

Stay ; are they gone ? 
Mass! mass! I'm spotted worse than ink. And 

kneel 
In Canterbury kirk in such a gown ! 
I'll eat it first. Oh, Lord I Lord, now who comes } 

\Entery left back, the Canon's Yeoman and the Carpenter ; 
after whom the Wife of Bath, disguised.'] 

ALISOUN 
Good fellow, you there, can you propagate 
Unto my vision — a young prioress "i 

CANON'S YEOMAN 

No, sir, I cannot. 

ALISOUN 
Or a marchioness } 
[ The pilgrims pass on.~\ 

JOHANNA 

[^Aside.] 
A marchioness ! 

ALISOUN 
[ Tivirling her sword-scabbard.] 
Hum I Hum I 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 151 

CARPENTER 

How went the sermon ? 

CANON'S YEOMAN 

God's blood ! Old Wycliffe hammered the pope flat. 
The pulpit rang like a hot anvil. 

CARPENTER 

Aye, 

There'll be skulls cracked yet. 

\Exeunt right.'] 

ALISOUN 
\^To Johanna.] 

Amorous Minerva ! 

JOHANNA 

Signor ! 

[^Aside.] 

My left sleeve's clean. 

ALISOUN 

I have a son, 
Whose aunt — 

JOHANNA 

Are you the Knight of Algezir } 

ALISOUN 

I am — Dan Roderigo d' Algezir. 

JOHANNA 

My Aubrey's father. 

ALISOUN 

Bones ! Are you Johanna } 



152 THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

JOHANNA 

\_AsideJ\ 
Bones ! 

ALISOUN 

Corpus arms ! it sticks me to the heart 
To gaze on your sweet face, my dear. 

JOHANNA 

\_Aside^ 

My dear ! 

ALISOUN 

Ah ! the fat rogue ! He said your face was worth 
Unbuckling an off eye to pop it in ; 
But such a pretty finch ! 

JOHANNA 

Finch ! Sir, perhaps 
You are deceived in me. — Who sent you here ? 

ALISOUN 

Yon chum of that sweet spindle-shanks, my son — 
Yon rhymester, Master Geoffrey. 

JOHANNA 

Yes ; 'twas he. 
{^Aside7\ 

Saints ! is this Aubrey's father } 

[^Aloud.~\ 

Doubtless, sir, 

There's no mistake. Your sister left you word — 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 153 

ALISOUN 

villain ! Aye, though I ha' bred him ! What 
Though 'tis my own son — villain ! God's teeth ! 

JOHANNA 

Sir! 

ALISOUN 

Your pardon, dainty dame. Before I speak 

1 do not rinse my mouth in oleander. 

I am a blunt knight. Nay, I cannot sigh 

A simoon hot with sonnets like my son. 

I am a blunt knight who, on Satan's heel, 

Hath rode it and strode it, wenched it, wived it, and 

knived it. 
Booted and footed *t, till — by Venus' shoestring, 
I be a blunt and rough but honest soldier. 

JOHANNA 

Signore, I believe it. 

ALISOUN 

Blunt's the word, then ; 
And here's the blunt point. You're deceived. 

JOHANNA 

By whom } 

ALISOUN 

By Aubrey. 

JOHANNA 

What! 

» 

ALISOUN 

Aye, by my smiling son 
Wi' the pretty curls. Where is he now } 



154 




THE 


CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 










JOHANNA 


Why, 


he- 


He's 


gone 


to find the friar. 












ALISOUN 












Aye. 












JOHANNA 


Good Heaven ! 



Can he have harmed him } 

ALISOUN 

Who — the friar ? The friar's 
His pal — his pal ; and so is Geoffrey ; aye, 
And that lascivious, Latin-singing nun — 

JOHANNA 

What! Eglantine? 

ALISOUN 

Yes, she ; those four ! Child, child, 
Wouldst not believe it, how they've sneaked and 

schemed. 
Plotted my life, aye, for my money. But 
'Twas lust, lust egged him on. Oh God ! my son ! 
And 'twas a cherub 'fore this Geoffrey warped him ! 

JOHANNA 
\_To herself. "l 
They whispered here : and there she said " Dear 
Aubrey." 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 155 

ALISOUN 
And their disguises ; oh, you'd not believe it ! 
That devil friar plays the chimney-sweep. 
And — 

JOHANNA 

Chimney-sweep ! 'Twas he, then, sung ? Oh, come ; 
Help! 

ALISOUN 

Where ? 

JOHANNA 

They're in the cellar. 
ALISOUN 

Like enough ; 
They're plotting, plotting. God's wounds ! 'Tis a 

trap. 
Where be they all .'' Geoffrey to send me here — 
My son to leave you with the friar — Ha ! 
They're with that sly, deceptive Prioress ; 
'Tis she — 

JOHANNA 

Why, she's your sister. 

ALISOUN 
\_As if taken back."] 

What — my sister ! 
Is she the Prioress } She Eglantine 1 

JOHANNA 

Yes, yes ; and she, too, left upon a pretext. 
Sir Roderigo, say, what shall we do .'' 



156 THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

ALISOUN 
My sister — and my son ! 

JOHANNA 

[ Calls. '\ 

Aubrey ! — no answer ? 
Aubrey ! 

ALISOUN 

My son and sister ! 

JOHANNA 

Oh, poor soldier ! 

ALISOUN 
Oh, monstrous brood, hatched in a vampire's nest ! 
But I will be revenged. Go to your room ; 
Lock fast the door ; but when I call, *' A brooch, 
A brooch ! " come forth and raise the house. 
» 

JOPIANNA 

Why " brooch " .? 
ALISOUN 

A watchword. Quick ; go ! I hear footsteps. Go ! 

[ Urges her toward door, right back.'] 
Blunt is the word ; your presence dangers me — 
Your room. No, no, I fear not. 

JOHANNA 

Poor Sir Roderick ! 
[^Exit; Alisoun shuts door ; voices outside, left.'] 

ALISOUN 
A miss is as good's a mile. 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 157 

REEVE 
[ Outside, '\ 

Where went your knight ? 
\^Enter Reeve^ Doctor^ and Chaucer. '\ 

CHAUCER 
To chapel. 

REEVE 

Na, na, na; I saw him not. 

CHAUCER 

\_To Doc tor. '\ 
Nor you } 

DOCTOR 

A knight, say you, from the Holy Land } 

CHAUCER 

Yes, a crusader. 

DOCTOR 
\_Points at Aiisoun.'] 
Is that he .'' 

CHAUCER 

Ah, thank you ; 
\_Starts forward, but sees he is mistake?i.~\ 
Nay, 'tis another man. 

DOCTOR 
Good even, sir. 

REEVE 
[71? Doctor.'] 
'Twas the first time I heard the devil preach 
In chapel. 



158 THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

DOCTOR 
Wycliffe ? 

REEVE 
{_Nods.'\ 

Curse him and his Lollards ! 
[^Exeunt, right front.'\ 



Aubrey ! 



CHAUCER 
\_Follows them to door, and calls. ~\ 

ALISOUN 
[ Claps her hands. '\ 



Host ! 

CHAUCER 

Signorino ! 

ALISOUN 

Host here ! 
\^Enter from cellar the Miller and Bottlejohn. As the 
door is closings the chink is filled with the faces of the 
Swaifis, threatening Bottlejoh?i.~\ 

MILLER 
[^His dagger drawn^ aside to Bottlejohn.'\ 

Mum! 
Quick ! Be thy ribs good whetstones ? 

BOTTLEJOHN 
\_Ducking to AlisounJ] 

Here, sweet lording. 

ALISOUN 
Thou'rt slow. 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 159 

MILLER 
\_Aside.'\ 
Ribs! 

BOTTLEJOHN 
Slow, sweet lording. 

ALISOUN 

Tell me, host, 
Hast thou residing in this hostelry 
A gentle prioress ? 

CHAUCER 
\_Aside^ 
What? 

MILLER 
\Aside to Bottlejohn, sharpening his dagger on an ale-mug^ 

Whetstones ! 

BOTTLEJOHN 

Aye, 
Sweet lording. 

ALISOUN 

Good ; go tell her that her brother 
Awaits her here. 

CHAUCER 
\_Aside^ 
Her brother ! 
\_Draws nearer^ 

HOST 

Aye, sweet lording. 

\Starts for door^ right back, Miller following^ 



l6o THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

ALISOUN 
Her brother, say — Dan Roderigo. 

BOTTLEJOHN 

Aye, 

Sweet lording. 

MILLER 

Host, hast thou a whetstone in 
Thy pocket ? 

BOTTLEJOHN 

Aye, sweet lording. 

MILLER 
[ Winking at Alisoun.~\ 

" Aye, sweet lording." 
\_Exeunt Bottlejohn and Miller.~\ 
\_Alisoun ignores Chaucer's presence. "^ 

CHAUCER 
\_Approaching her.'\ 
Your pardon, sir, I trespass. By your cross 
You come — 

ALISOUN 

From Palestine. Well met. You, friend } 

CHAUCER 
Nay, I'm a door-mouse, sir ; a doze-at-home. 
My home's near by at Greenwich. You have friends — 
Friends at the inn } 

ALISOUN 

A friend, sir ; a fair friend ; 
By Jupiter, a sweet friend. 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS l6l 

chauCer 

Ah! 
ALISOUN 

A sister. 
She is a nun. 

CHAUCER 

Good God ! 

ALISOUN 

A prioress. 

CHAUCER 

It cannot be ! 

ALISOUN 

Signor ! 

CHAUCER 

Her name ? Her name ? 

ALISOUN 
What's that to you — her name ? 

CHAUCER 
\_Disconcerted!\ 

It may be — 

ALISOUN 

Ah! 
Perhaps you know her — what ? 'Tis Eglantine. 

CHAUCER 
Impossible ! — Sir, pardon me ; I must 
Have made some strange mistake. 



l62 THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

ALISOUN 

'Tis I have made the blunder. 



Nay, friend ; I guess 



CHAUCER 



ALISOUN 



You, sir ? 

Sooth, 



I might as well stick both feet in the mire 

And wade across my blushes. We old lads 

With beards, who sees our blushes, what ? So, then. 

This prioress, she is not just my sister. 







CHAUCER 


No? 


No. 


ALISOUN 
CHAUCER 

What then .? 



ALISOUN 

Vous savez bien, these nuns, 
When they would have a friend, they clepe him 

*' brother." 
Especially on holy pilgrimage 
It hath a proper sound : "■ My brother meets me ; 
My brother is a knight." You cannot blame 'em ; 
'Tis more discreet ; we men must humour 'em. 
Therefore this little honeysuckle nun 
Doth take delight to call me brother. 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 163 

CHAUCER 

Liar ! 

\_As Chaucer lifts his hand about to strike Alisomi, she raises 
hers to guard ; seizing it, he beholds her ringj] 

What ! — " Amor vincit omnia." — Even her ! 

ALISOUN 

Take back your lie ! 

CHAUCER 
That ring — tell me — that ring ! 

ALISOUN 
St. Madrian ! It is my love-ring. She, 
My sweet nun, gave it me. She wears a brooch 
To match it, on her wrist. 

\_Etiter, rights Bottle John and Miller^ 

BOTTLEJOHN 

The Prioress, 

Sweet lording. 

\_Enter the Prioress^ 

PRIORESS 
Brother ! Welcome, brother ! 

CHAUCER 

No! 
God! God! I'll not believe it. Aubrey! Aubrey! 

\_Exit, left.~\ 



1 64 THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

ALISOUN 
My pretty virgin sister ! 

PRIORESS 
\^Gives her hand, reticently.'] 
Roderigo ! 
\_Looking after Chaucer^ 
He need not, sure, have gone. 

ALISOUN 

Put up thy chin, 
My snow-white dove. Aha, but thou art grown ! 
The silver slip o' girlhood that I kissed 
Good-by when I set out for Palestine 
Hath mellowed into golden womanhood. 
Give me thy lips. 

PRIORESS 
Nay, brother, nay ; my vows ! 
I may not kiss a man. 

ALISOUN 
Toot ! never fear, then ; 
Thou shalt not break thy vows against my beard. 
What, I'm thy brother ; come ! 

PRIORESS 

Adieu, mon fr^re. 
ALISOUN 

Soft, soft, my startled fawn. You need not jump 

Because your brother is a true crusader. 

Or didst thou fancy I was cut in stone. 

With my cold gauntlets crossed above my breast. 

Like a dumb, marble knight upon a tomb .-* 

Art not thou glad to see me, sister ? 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 165 

PRIORESS 

Yes, 

Mon fr^re. Forgive me, I had thought — You see, 

My nephew — 'tis a pretty mannered youth ; 

You're not alike, are you ? 

ALISOUN 
\_Latighingi\ 

By Peter's toe, 
I hope not. Saints deliver me from being 
A new-hatched chicken's feather. 

PRIORESS 

What ! your son ? 

ALISOUN 

Next, thou'll be wishing I were like that fellow 
That fetched me here — yon what's-his-name, yon 
Geoffrey. 

PRIORESS 
Why, 'tis a noble gentleman. 

\^Enter^ from cellar door, Su7nvioner, Shipman, Cook, Ft'iar, 
and Manciple ; they look on.'] 

ALISOUN 

Hoho! 
Your noble gentleman ! Why, harkee, sweet ; 
He told me he's betrothed to an ale-wife. 

PRIORESS 
He told you — when ? 



l66 THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

ALISOUN 

Just now, coming from chapel. 

PRIORESS 

Her name ? 

ALISOUN 
[_Riiminafing, winks at the Swains.~\ 

What was her name, now ? — Alisoun, 
The Wife of Bath, they call her. 

PRIORESS 

O gran Dieu ! 
That person ! 

ALISOUN 
Person ! God wot, 'twas not so 
Your Geoffrey called her. " AHsoun," quoth he ; 
" My Hly Alisoun, my fresh wild-rose, 
My cowslip in the slough of womankind, 
Bright Alisoun shall be my bride." 

PRIORESS 
\Throwing herself into Alisoun' s arms.'\ 

Mon fr^re ! 
Oh, keep me safe, mon frere ! 

\_She hides herfaceJ] 

MILLER 
\_Laughing.'] 

By Corpus bones ! 

SUMMONER 
Look! 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 167 

SHIPMAN 



Hold me up ! 




BOTTLEJOHN 
] Whispers.' 
Lady, beware ! 




MILLER 


Mum! 


PRIORESS 

Are these ? 


What 


ALISOUN 




Begone, you varlets ! 




COOK 




\Bowing^ 

Yes, sweet lord. 

SUMMONER 

We know our betters. 



\They withdraw a little. '\ 

ALISOUN 

Come, what cheer, my girl ? 
Hath that churl Geoffrey wronged thee ? 

PRIORESS 

No, no, no ! 

ALISOUN 

Nay, if the churl hath wronged thee, by this locket — 

PRIORESS 

Swear not by that. He swore by that. 



l68 THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

ALISOUN 

O vile ! 

He swore by this — the brooch that holds my hair, 

Thy brother's hair ? 

PRIORESS 

But, Roderigo — 

ALISOUN 

What! 
Give't here ! Or maybe thou hast promised it 
To him ? 

PRIORESS 

No, no, mon frere. Here, take it — keep it. 

ALISOUN 

So ! By this brooch — 

\_Aside^ 

Now, lads, learn how to woo ! 
Now, by this golden brooch of Eglantine, 
And by this little, slender wrist of pearl. 
Where once it hung ; and by the limpid eyes 
Of Eglantine, and by her ripe, red mouth. 
Yea, by the warm white doves which are her breasts 
And flutter at the heart of Eglantine, 
I swear I will be ever Eglantine's 
And lacerate the foes of Eglantine. 

PRIORESS 
Brother, such words — 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 169 

ALISOUN 

Call me not brother, sweet ; 
A brother's blood is lukewarm in his limbs, 
But mine for thee is lightning. Look at me ! 
Was Jove a finer figure of a man 
Than me ? Had Agamemnon such an arm. 
Or Hector such a leg ? 

PRIORESS 

Forbear! Forbear! 

ALISOUN 

Alack, she scorns me. Stay, Venus of virgins ! 
Why dost thou wimple all the lovely dawn 
Of thy young body in this veil of night ? 
Why wilt thou cork thy sweetness up, and, like 
A mummy, wrapped in rose and ivory, 
Store all thy beauty till the judgment-day ? 
God did not paint thee on a window-glass. 
Step down from thy cold chapel, rosy saint. 
And take thy true-knight in thine arms. 

PRIORESS 

Help! help! 

BOTTLEJOHN 

Pray, lady, pray ! It is Satanas ! They 
Be devils all ! 

ALISOUN 

Love — Eglantine — I kneel. 



I/O THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

PRIORESS 
Joannes ! Marcus ! 

{Seizing her crucifix^ 

Tibi, Domine ! 

{Enter, right, Joannes, Marcus, and Paulus, They are 
immediately driven back by the Summoner, Shipman, 
and Cook.'] 

JOANNES 
Madame. 

SHIPMAN 
Come on ! 

PRIORESS 
Help ! Save me ! 
{Enter Chaucer, left.] 

ALISOUN 

{To Prioress.] 

Lovely nymph, 
Come to my arms — 

CHAUCER 
{To Alisoun, with his sword drawn.] 
Embrace me. 

PRIORESS 
{Goes to his protection.] 

Cher monsieur ! 

ALISOUN 

God save you, Master Geoffrey. 

CHAUCER 

Draw ! 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 171 

FRIAR 

\_Aside.'\ 

Lord! Lord! 
The pot boils. Now to add the salt and pepper. 
\_Exit dow7i cellar. '\ 

\_Enter, left back, in quick succession, all the pilgrims ^ return- 
ing with their links frojn chapel^ 



Monsieur 



PRIORESS 
\_To Chaucer^ 

CHAUCER 
\To Alisoun.~\ 
Draw ! 

PRIORESS 

Do not fight, Monsieur ! 

CHAUCER 
Wilt draw, I say } 

ALISOUN 

Draw what.? Draw 7^^^ .^ Merci, 
I'm not a dray-horse. 

CHAUCER 

Is this man your brother .? 

PRIORESS 

Oh, sir, I know not ; but he hath insulted — 

CHAUCER 

Insulted you .'* Enough. By all the devils. 
Defend yourself ! 



172 THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

ALISOUN 
\_Drawing^ 
To arms then, sweet Achilles. 

[They fight. Re-enter right, Shipfnan, Smnmoner^ and Cook. 
They rush to Alisoun's aid.'] 

SHIPMAN 
Boardside the fat churl. 

PILGRIMS 

Come ! A fight ! 



FRANKLIN 

\_Enteri?ig.'] 



Who are they ? 



MERCHANT 
A Lollard and Papist. 

PRIORESS 

Stay them ! Stop them ! 

PILGRIMS 

Down with the Papists ! 

PRIORESS 

Oh, St. Loy ! 

CHAUCER 

[To the crowd.~\ 

Standoff! 

PILGRIMS 

Down with the Lollards ! 

[ They close in and fight confusedly with staves.'] 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 



173 



ALISOUN 
[^Holding tip the locket.'] 

Hold ! A brooch ! A brooch ! 

CHAUCER 
I'll make thee yield it, ruffian. 

\_From the cellar enter the Friar and the Squire, the latter 
sword in hand, fragments of cut ropes still clingitig to 
him.~\ 

SQUIRE 
[JJ? Chaucer — plunging at Alisoun.~\ 

Sir, I'm with you. 
\_Enter, right, Johanna^ 

ALISOUN 
\To Squire^ 
Unnatural son ! 

JOHANNA 

Help! 
\Thro'ws herself between them.] 

Brave Sir Roderick ! 
[ZJ? Squire^ 
Shame ! Shame ! Your father's blood } 

SQUIRE 

You,- lady .? 

{^Enter, left, Wycliffe.] 



WYCLIFFE 
\To the pilgrims.] 



Peace ! 



1/4 THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

CHAUCER 
You, marchioness ! What does this mean ? 

ALISOUN 
[^Stripping off her beard and wig — her own hair falling 
over her shoulders — snatches a warming-pan from the 
chimney, and confronts Chaucer.^ 

Sweet Geoffrey, 
It means this pan shall warm our wedding sheets. 

MILLER 

What devil ! 

CHAUCER 

AHsoun ! — My bet is lost. 

FRANKLIN 

The Wife of Bath ! 

\_The pilgrims crowd round and laugh. '\ 

JOHANNA 

[ Turning away.~\ 

Impostors ! 

ALISOUN 
\_To Chaucer.'] 

Come, sweet chuck. 
And kiss the brooch that hath betrothed our hearts. 

PRIORESS 

M'sieur, is this true } 

\_As Chaucer turns to the Prioress in a kind of blank dismay y 

enter y from the cellar, swathed in a long gown, the real 

Knight and the Friar.] 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 175 

KNIGHT 

\To Friar. '\ 

Where ? 

\_Friar points to Prioress ; he advances^ 

Eglantine ! 

PRIORESS 
\_Aghast at this apparition^ runs to the priedieu.'] 

No more ! 

CHAUCER 

\_Struck, at a flash, by this medley of incongruities ^ bursts into 

laughter, and seizing an ale mug, lifts it high.'] 

Alls, I drink to thee and woman's wit. 

FRIAR 

God save the vintner and the Wife of Bath ! 

PILGRIMS 

[^Shout.] 
God save the vintner and the Wife of Bath ! 

ALISOUN 
[^Sharing the ale mug with Chaucer.] 

Sweetheart ! 

Explicit pars tertia. 



ACT FOURTH 

" And specially, from every shires ende 
Of Engelond, to Caunterbury they wende, 
The holy blisful martyr for to seke, 
That hem hath holpen whan that they were seke." 



ACT IV 

Time: The next day. 

Scene: Before the west front of Canterbury 
Cathedral, gorgeously decorated with tap- 
estries, hatchments, and cloth of gold. 
Grouped nearby are temporary booths of 
venders, gaily trimmed. 

Many pilgrims are assembled ; others keep a7'riving from 
diffei'ent di7-ections, talking, praying, and sight-seeing. 
At the Cathedral door a Priest blesses, with a sprengel, 
those who enter. 

FIRST VENDER 

Relics ! Souvenirs ! 

SECOND VENDER 

Blood of the blissful martyr ! 

A BLACK FRIAR 
\To Bailey, the Host.'] 
A guide, Sir Hosteler } 

HOST 
Be off! 

SECOND VENDER 
\_To the Guild-men. "] 

Ampulles ? 
179 



l80 THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

WEAVER 

What are they ? 

SECOND VENDER 

Leaden bottles ; look ! 

DYER 

What's in 'em ? 

SECOND VENDER 

Drops from the holy well : St. Thomas' well, 
That turned four times to blood and once to milk ; 
Good for the humours, gout, and falHng-sickness. 

WEAVER 
\_Buys some.'\ 
Here. 

SECOND VENDER 

Eightpence. 
\_The Guild-men buy^ and arrange the leaden vials in their 

hatsJ] 

FIRST VENDER 

Vernicles ! St. Peter's keys ! 

CARPENTER 
[^Examining a purchase.'] 
What's written on this brooch, sir } 

CLERK 

" Caput Thomae." 

PLOUGHMAN 
\_S faring at a statue in a niche of the Cathedral] 
Is he alive ? 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS l8l 

FRANKLIN 

Naw ; he's just petrified. 



A guide, sir ? 



BLACK FRIAR 
\To Merchant^ 

MERCHANT 
No. 



BLACK FRIAR 

Show you the spot, sir, where 
The four knights murdered Becket, in the year 
Eleven hundred seventy, at dusk. 
The twenty-ninth day of December — 

A GREY FRIAR 

Nay, sir, 
ril show you the true statue of the Virgin 
That talked to holy Thomas when he prayed. 

BLACK FRIAR 

St. George's arm, sir! Come; I'll let you kiss it. 

GREY FRIAR 

This way ; the tomb of Edward the Black Prince. 
\_Both seize Merchant and tug him.'] 

MERCHANT 

[^StrugglingJ] 
Mine host ! 

HOST 

[ Coming up.] 
Pack off ! 



l82 THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

PARSON 
\_To Ploughfnan^ 
What May-day queen comes here ? 

\_Outside, left, are heard girls* voices singing; efiter, dressed 
richly and gaily, Chaucer, surrounded by a bevy of Can- 
terbury brooch-girls, who have wreathed him with flowers 
and long ribbons, by which they pull him ; plying him 
with their wares, while he attempts to talk aside with 
the Man-of-Law, who accompanies him.~\ 

CANTERBURY GIRLS 

\_Sing.'] 
High and low, 
Low and high. 
Be they merry, 
Be they glum, 
When they come 
To Canterbury, 
Canterbury, 
Canterbury, 
Some low. 
Some high, 
Canterbury brooches buy. 

CHAUCER 

Sweet ladies — nay, sweet Canterbury muses. 
Not Hercules amid the Lydian nymphs 
Was ravished by more dulcet harmonies. 

\_To Man-of-Law.'\ 
You sergeants-of-the-law are subtle men. 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 183 

MAN-OF-LAW 

We have a knack — a knack, sir. 

A GIRL 

Pull his sleeve. 

ANOTHER 

They say you are a bridegroom. Is it true, sir } 

CHAUCER 

Your Canterbury skies rain compliments. 

\_To Man- of- Law. '\ 
Pray ! — 

MAN-OF-LAW 
\_Taking money from Chaucer. '\ 
If you insist, my lord. 

CHAUCER 

Nay, not ** my lord." 
How stands the case 1 

MAN-OF-LAW 

You say this wife hath been 
Some eight times wedded } 

CHAUCER 

Five times. 

A GIRL 

Stop their gossip. 
He's talking business. 

ALL THE GIRLS 

Brooches ! Souvenirs ! 



How much } 



CHAUCER 
\_Examining their wares.~\ 



1 84 THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

A GIRL 
This ? Two-pence. 

MAN-OF-LAW 

Five times — five times. Well ! 

CHAUCER 
\_To Man-of-Law, giving more money ^ 
Prithee — 

MAN-OF-LAW 

If you insist. 

A GIRL 
\To Chaucer^ 

Mine for a penny. 

MAN-OF-LAW 

Why, then, the case stands thus : By English law, 
No woman may be wedded but five times. 
By law, sir, a sixth husband is proscribed. 

CHAUCER 

You'll vouch for that .'* By law } 

MAN-OF-LAW 

Sir, I will quote 

You precedents from William Conqueror. 

CHAUCER 

Alas, my nuptials ! And I would have made 
So neat a bridegroom ! 

A GIRL 
Come, sir, will you buy } 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 1 85 

ANOTHER 
Take mine ! 

ALL THE GIRLS 

Mine! Mine! Mine! 

CHAUCER 

Nay, fresh goddesses, 
Your graces are more heavenly souvenirs ! 
Sell to me your glances 
For a poet's fancies ! 
\To a girl with yellow hairl\ 
You, Midas' daughter, how much for this gold ? 

THE GIRL 
'Tis not for sale, sir. 

CHAUCER 
\_To another^ 

How much for that rose ? 

THE GIRL 

What rose ? 

CHAUCER 

Your smile. 

THE GIRL 

Gratis — for you, sir. 

\_Enter Alisotm, attired gorgeously as a bride.'] 

ALL THE GIRLS 

Oh-h! 

CHAUCER 
How much. Olympians, for your nectar'd lips } 
ALL THE GIRLS 

A kiss ! A kiss ! 



1 86 THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

ALISOUN 
Hold ! Give the bride first licks. 

ALL THE GIRLS 

The bride ! 

ALISOUN 

\_After kissing Chaucer^ 

Now, lasses, take your turns. 

A GIRL 

The shrew ! 

ALISOUN 
Lo ! what a pot of honey I have won 
To lure the village butterflies. Come, pretties, 
Sip, sip, and die o' jealousy. 

A GIRL 
\To Chaucer^ 

Who is 
This woman } 

CHAUCER 
Nymphs, this is the gentle Thisbe 
That wooed and won me. Judge then, goddesses, 
How I must weep to lose her. 

ALISOUN 

Lose me, love } 
Nay, honey-pot, I am too stuck on thee. 
Thy bosom is my hive, and I queen-bee. 

A GIRL 

I'd rather lose my heart to a ripe pumpkin. 

ANOTHER 

Or a green gourd. 

[ They go off, in piqued laughter^ 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 187 

ALISOUN 
\_Calls after them.'] 
What devil doth it matter 
Whether he be a pumpkin or a rose, 
So be that he rings sound. — Give me the man 
That keeps his old bark grafted with new buds 
And lops away the dead wood from his trunk, 
And I will hug him Hke the mistletoe. 
Geoffrey, thou art the man. 

CHAUCER 
\_As Alisoun is about to embrace him, turns to the Man-of- 

Law,~\ 

Cold-blooded knave! 

The flower of women and the wit of wives — 
Yet I must lose her ! 

MAN-OF-LAV^ 

Blame not me, sir ; blame 
The law. 

CHAUCER 

O heartless knave! 

MAN-OF-LAW 

By English law, 

No woman may be wedded but five times. 

ALISOUN 

What's that ? 

CHAUCER 

But is there no exception ? 

MAN-OF-LAW 

None. 
By law, sir, a sixth husband is proscribed. 



1 88 THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

ALISOUN 
Hey, what ! What devil ? Say't again. Fm deef . 

MAN-OF-LAW 

By law, dame, a sixth husband is proscribed. 

ALISOUN 
Prescribed } Ho, then, art thou a doctor ? 

MAN-OF-LAW 

No, 

I am a sergeant-of-the-law. — " Proscribed " 
Is to say, dame, "inhibited," "forbidden." 

ALISOUN 

How ! you forbid me to take Geoffrey here 
For my sixth husband } 

CHAUCER 

Nay, the law forbids it. 

ALISOUN 

Pish! What's the fine? 

MAN-OF-LAW 

To hang, dame, by the neck 
Till thou art dead. 

ALISOUN 

Aye, man, by Geoffrey's neck. 
Get out ! 

CHAUCER 

Canst quote the law } 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 189 

MAN-OF-LAW 

The statute, sir, — 

The forty-ninth doom of King Richard — saith : 

"One woman to five men sufficeth," or 

"Quid tibi placet mihi placet," sir. 

ALISOUN 

Hog-gibberish ! 

CHAUCER 
\^Aside.'\ 
Nay, 'tis a man-of-law. 
But soft ! we'll bribe him. 

ALISOUN 
\_Aside. ] 
Do, duck. 

CHAUCER 

Sergeant — hist ! 
[ Whispers aside and gives him money ^ as if covertly. Then 

aloud. '\ 

This statute, is there no appeal from it ? 

MAN-OF-LAW 
A special dispensation from the king ; 
That's all, sir. 

ALISOUN 

Break his head ! 

CHAUCER 

Nay, Alis, here's 
Good news. The king himself is here to-day 
In Canterbury. I will beg him grant 
This special dispensation for our marriage. 



IQO THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

ALISOUN 
Thou — ask the king ? 

CHAUCER 
Why not ? 

ALISOUN 

Give me a vintner 
For cheek ! Sweet duck, I do believe thou lov'st me. 

\Enter the Miller ^ with the other Swains.'] 

CHAUCER 
I am unworthy, love, to match thy wit. 

MILLER 

Thou art unworthy, fool, to latch her shoe. 

CHAUCER 

Even so. 

MILLER 

Thou likes to play the gentleman ; 
Come, then ; I'll duel you. 

CHAUCER 

Good Bob, I love thee. 

MILLER 

Come : knives or fists .<* 

CHAUCER 

Kind Bob, thou shalt this day 
Shed tears and vow I love thee. 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 191 

MILLER 

Wilt not fight? 
Then — 

ALISOUN 
\_Intercepting a blow at Chaucer."] 
Hold there, Robin Sweetheart, art thou jealous ? 

MILLER 
Aye, dame. 

ALISOUN 

What for? 

MILLER 
\_To Swains.'] 

She axes me what for ! 
Axe her, who gagged the Knight ? 

SHIPMAN 

Who tied the Squire ? 

MANCIPLE 

Who watched in the wet cellar ? 



SUMMONER 
FRIAR 

Who stole thy scarlet cloak ? 



Tied thy doublet ? 



COOK 

Who kissed thy toe ? 

MILLER 

Axe her, what made us do all this ? Mayhap 

To get our backs flayed — what ? Mayhap to make 

Our wench a wedding with this vintner here ? 



192 THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

SHIPMAN 
Revenge ! 

FRIAR 

Remember Peggy's stall. 
\_They surround Chaucer threateningly^ 

COOK 

Vile tub ! 

PRIORESS 
\_Entering, left.~\ 
O Roderigo, help him ! 

KNIGHT 

Whom ? That churl ! 

SQUIRE 

Father, let me ! 

KNIGHT 

You are deceived in him. 

SQUIRE 

But, sir, these are the rogues that bound you. 

KNIGHT 

He 

Is one of them. They are beneath our notice. 

MANCIPLE 



Death to the vintner ! 



SUMMONER 
Hit him ! 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 193 

ALISOUN 

Stand away ! 

CHAUCER 

\_As Alisoun^ with her fists, keeps them at bay^ 

Happy, bridegroom, be thy stars 

When thy Venus turns to Mars ! 

\_Enter heralds.'] 

HERALDS 
Make way ! Room for King Richard ! Way ! The 
King ! 

CLERK 
[/« the crowd.'] 
Shall we see Chaucer now ? 

PARSON 

He's sure to come. 

[The heralds force back all the pilgrims, except those of high 
degree, showing, at the great door of the Cathedral, 
a procession of priests and choir-boys about to emerge.] 

PRIEST 

Peace, folk ! Stop wrangling. Kneel ! His Reverence, 
Archbishop of Canterbury, meets the King. 

PRIORESS 
\To Squire^ 
Chaucer, you say t 

SQUIRE 

A little patience more. 
[A silence falls on the pilgrims as, within the Cathedral, 
choir-boys begin to chant a hymn. Issuing from the 



194 THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

door and fo7'7?iing against one side of the massed, kneel- 
ing pilgrims, enters a procession, headed by splendid- 
vested priests, carrying pictured banners of St. Thomas 
and his shrine, followed by choir-boys, and lastly, by 
the Archbishop of Canterbury with regalia.'] 

THE PROCESSION 
ISings.] 

" Tu, per Thomae sanguinem 
Quern pro te impendit, 
Fac nos, Christe, scandere 
Quo Thomas ascendit. 

[ Chants.'] 

Gloria et honore coronasti eum Domino 
Et constituisti eum supra opera manuum tuarum 
Ut ejus meritis et precibus a Gehennae incendiis 
liberemur." 

\_At the climax of the chant, as the Archbishop appears in 

the doorway, the chimes of the Cathedral peal forth from 

high above the kneeling crowd ; cheers, beginning from 

the right, swell to a tumult, and as the people rise, enter, 

right, Ki7ig Richard on horseback, the Dukes of Lancaster, 

Gloucester, and Ireland on ponies, and their train, 

among who7n are Wycliffe and Johanna on foot. Six 

mules, laden with offerings, bring up the rear. The 

shouts of ^^ God save the KingT^ ^^ God save John 

Gaunt I " etc., continue till the King and nobles descend 

from their steeds.] 



PILGRIMS 



God save King Richard ! 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 195 

KING RICHARD 

Thanks, good gaffers, thanks ! 
[ To John of Gaunt.'] 

Sweet Uncle Jack, thou hast a spanking pony. 
Take her to Spain with you, and all the Dons 
Will kiss her fetlock. N'est ce pas, bel ami } 

DE VERE 
They will, my Dick. Par charity ! Haha ! 

ARCHBISHOP 
\_Saluting gravely^ 
God save your Majesty ! 

KING RICHARD 

God save you, too ! 
Your Reverence is looking in fine feather. 
Here are some trinkets for the holy martyr. 
These mules bear spices from Arabia ; 
These — tapers ; and these — Persian tapestries. 
Here's a neat statue of myself in gold ; 
And so, and so, so. — 

\To the Duke of Gloucester.] 

Pretty Uncle Tom, 
I wish my ruffs were puckered like your brows. 
Dost thou pick faults, eh } in my Paris gown } 

GLOUCESTER 

My liege, this is the shrine of holy Becket. 



196 THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

KING RICHARD 

Lord, save our souls ! 

\_To De Vere.'] 

Lend me a looking-glass. 

DE VERE 
\^Takes one from his sleeve^ 
Ha ! Dick, par charity ! 

\_Richard and De Ve7'e look iti the glass and make faces in 
imitafio?i of Gloucester and the others^] 

PARSON 
\_In the crowd to the Clerk.~\ 

Yonder's the Duke 
Of Lancaster : John Gaunt. 

CHAUCER 
\_Who has been held back with the crowd by the heralds ^ 
pushes through, and hastening forward, kneels tojohamia, 
who is talking with Wycliffe.'] 

A boon ! a boon ! 

JOHANNA 

iTo Wycliffe.'] 
Protect me, sir ! 

CHAUCER 
\_Holds up Johanna^ s love-knot."] 

Lady, once more, your pledge ! 

JOHANNA 

Unmannered loon ! 

A HERALD 

\_Seizes Chaucer roughly by the shoulder.] 

Get back ! 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 197 

JOHN OF GAUNT 

What, brother Geoffrey ! 

CHAUCER 
Well met, old friend ! 

\_They embrace. '\ 
KING RICHARD 

God's eyes ! Our laureate. 
Halloa there, Chaucer ! 

JOHANNA 
Chaucer ! 

ALTSOUN 

Chaucer ! 

PRIORESS 

Chaucer ! 
\_Chaucer bows to the King.'] 

SQUIRE 

\_To Knight.'] 
Father, I said so. 

GAUNT 

You are late, my poet. 

What make you here .-* 

CHAUCER 

Blunders, your Grace. 

GAUNT 

How, blunders } 

CHAUCER 
Taxing the memory of a gracious lady. 



198 THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

JOHANNA 
Signor, the place of fool I should have sued 
For you, hath been already filled — by me. 
I crave your pardon. 

CHAUCER 

And I kiss your hand. 

KING RICHARD 

Ho, Chaucer! 

ALISOUN 
\_Sfrt4ggling with a herald.'\ 
Let me out ! 

CHAUCER 

Your Majesty .'' 

KING RICHARD 
When April comes, there's not a man in England 
But thinks on thee and love. While thou art England's 
And England Richard's, thou art Richard's own. 
\_As the King etribraces Chaucer, Alisoun breaks away fro7n 

the her a Id. '\ 

ALISOUN 
Hold up, your Majesty ! The man is mine. 

KING RICHARD 
What's this .? 

CHAUCER 
My liege — another blunder. 
[ Chaucer whispers aside to the Man-of-Law.'] 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 199 

KING RICHARD 

So? 
The blunder was not God's in making her. 

ALISOUN 

The man is mine. 

KING RICHARD 

What, Geoffrey, art thou tripped } 
Have love and April overflowed thy verse 
To fill thy veins ? 

CHAUCER 

Your Majesty — 

MAN-OF-LAW 
\_Aside to John of Gaunt'] 

Dan Chaucer 
Bid me explain to you — 

\_They talk aside ^ 

CHAUCER 

Your Majesty, 
This is that fair-reputed fay. Queen Mab, 
Who, having met amid the woods of Kent, 
Hath so enamoured me, as you have said, 
With love and April, that — to speak it short — 
We are betrothed. 

KING RICHARD 

Betrothed ! 

DE VERE 

Par charity ! 



200 THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

MILLER 
\_To a herald, who restrains hifn.~\ 
Leave go ! 

GAUNT 

\_Aside to Man- of- Law. "] 
A miller ? 

MAN-OF-LAW 
\^AsideT] 
Yes, that fellow there. 

ALISOUN 
\_Nudging Chancer^ 
Speak on, sweet chuck. 

CHAUCER 

** Betrothed," your Majesty : 
'Tis a sweet word which lovers' law hath hallow'd, 
But which your law, King Richard, hath envenom'd. 
" No woman may be wedded but five times : " 
Thus saith the law. 

KING RICHARD 

What! Where.? 

GAUNT 

\_Laughingly aside."] 

My liege ! 
\_They whisper. ~\ 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 20I 

CHAUCER 

And so, 

Because this queen of wives hath scarce been knit 

Five times in wedlock, therefore — saith the law — 

Our bosoms must be sundered. 

MILLER 
\_In the crowd.'] 

God be praised ! 

CHAUCER 
But knowing. King, how nobly wit and mercy 
Are mixed in your complexion, I presume 
To ask your greatness to outleap your laws 
And grant, by special dispensation, to 
This woman — a sixth husband. 

KING RICHARD 

By my fay, sir, 
You ask too much. My laws are sacred. 

\_Aside to John of Gaunt, who whispers him.~\ 

Hein > 
ALISOUN 

Dig him again there, Geoffrey. 

CHAUCER 

King, have grace ! 

KING RICHARD 
The Duke of Lancaster advises me 
There may be one exception. 



202 THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

\_Aside.'\ 

What ? What's that ? 

But only one. My law is sacred. — Woman, 
I grant to thee the right to wed once more 
On one condition. Mark it ; thy sixth husband 
^Must be a miller. — Herald, sound the verdict. 
\_As the herald blares his trumpet, Alisoim shakes her fist 

at Chaucer, who eyes her slily ; then both burst into 

laughter.'] 

HERALD 

If any miller here desire this woman, 
Now let him claim her. 

MILLER 
[^Rushes up.] 

Here, by Corpus bones ! 

ALISOUN 

Thou sweet pig's eye ! I take thee. 

*" \_Extending her hand to Chaucer.] 

Geoffrey, quits ! 
CHAUCER 
Quits, AUsoun ! 

FRIAR 

\Bobbing up between them.] 
Etmoi.!* 

ALISOUN 

Et toi. 
\_Kisses him.] 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 203 

MILLER 

\_Grabbmg him^ 

Hold, friar ! 
That pays thee to perform the ceremony. 

KING RICHARD 
\_Seated, to Chaucer^ 
Come now, our prodigal Ulysses ! Tell us ; 
What dark adventures have befallen thee since 
Thou settest forth from Priam-Bailey's castle ? 
What inland Circe witched our laureate 
To mask his Muse among this porkish rabble ? 

CHAUCER 

My Hege, may I have leave to tell you bluntly ? 

KING RICHARD 

Carte blanche, carte blanche, mon cher. I'll be as 

mute 
As e'er King Alcinous i' the Odyssey. 

CHAUCER 

My Muse went masked. King Richard, from your 

court 
To learn a roadside rhyme. Shall I repeat it } 

KING RICHARD 

Carte blanche, j'ai dit. Say on! 

CHAUCER 

Your Majesty, 

" When Adam delved and Eve span. 
Who was then the gentleman .'' " 



204 ^^^ CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

MILLER 
By Corpus bones ! 

KING RICHARD 
[Starts up.'] 
Mort Dieu ! 

CHAUCER 

'' Carte blanche," my liege ! 
Six years ago in London, when the mob 
Roared round your stirrups, Wat the Tyler laid 
His hand upon your bridle. " Sacrilege ! " 
Cried the Lord Mayor, and Wat Tyler fell 

Dead. 

[The crowd murmurs.'] 

GLOUCESTER 
[To Richard J remonstratingly.] 
Nephew ! 
[ The King, sitting again, motions Gloucester silence.] 

CHAUCER 

Whereat you, your Majesty — 
God save you, a mere boy, a gallant boy — 
Cried out : *' Good fellows, have you lost your captain ? 
I am your King, and I will be your captain." 

[ The pilgrims cheer.] 
Have you forgotten how they cheered } Then hark ! 
Once more that " porkish rabble " you shall hear 
Make music sweeter than your laureate's odes. 
[Turning to the crowd.] 

Pilgrims and friends, deep-hearted Englishmen, 
This is your King who called himself your captain. 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 205 

PILGRIMS 
\_Shout.'\ 
God save the King ! 

CHAUCER 

My liege, my dear young liege, 
Are these the dull grunts of the swinish herd, 
Or are they singing hearts of Enghshmen ? 
Where is the gentleman, whose ermined throat 
Shall strain a nobler shout ? "When Adam delved " — 
Sire, Adam's sons are delving still, and he 
Who scorns to set his boot-heel to the spade 
Is but a bastard. 

KING RICHARD 

\_Jumps up again.'] 

'Swounds ! 

PILGRIMS 

God save Dan Chaucer ! 

KING RICHARD 

\_To Chaucer.'] 

Give me thy hand. God's eyes ! These knaves cheer 

you 
Louder than me. Go tell the churls I love 'em. 

CHAUCER 
\^To the pilgrims.'] 

His Majesty bids me present you all 
Before him, as his fellow Englishmen. 



206 THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

KING RICHARD 
\_As the pilgrims approach^] 
Fellows, God bless you ! 

\_To Chaucer. ~\ 
Thanks. 

\Snatching away his looking-glass from the hand of De Vere, 
who is making a comic face at Chaucer^ he smashes it 
upoti the ground^ 

DE VERE 

Sweet Dick ! 

ARCHBISHOP 

My liege, 
The holy canopy is being raised. 

\^A medley of sweet bells is heard from within the Cathedral. 
The pilgrims crowd about Chaucer^ 

CHAUCER 
Give me your hands, my friends. You hear the bells 
Which call us to the holy martyr's shrine. 
Give me your hands, dear friends ; and so farewell : 
You, honest parson — sly Bob — testy Jack — 
Gentle Sir Knight — bold Roger — Master Franklin — 
All, all of you ! — Call me your vintner still, 
And I will brew you such a vintage as 
Not all the saps that mount to nature's sun 
Can match in April magic. They who drink it — 
Yes, though it be after a thousand years. 
When this our shrine, which like the Pleiades 
Now glitters, shall be bare and rased stone. 
And this fresh pageant mildewed history — 



THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 207 

Yet they who drink the vintage I will brew 

Shall wake, and see a vision, in their wine, 

Of Canterbury and our pilgrimage : 

These very faces, with the blood in them. 

Laughter and love and tang of life in them, 

These moving limbs, this rout, this majesty ! 

For by that resurrection of the Muse, 

Shall you, sweet friends, re-met in timeless Spring, 

Pace on through time upon eternal lines 

And ride with Chaucer in his pilgrimage. 

\^A deep bell sounds.'\ 

ARCHBISHOP 

My liege, St. Thomas will receive his pilgrims. 

\_The King, lords, and people, forming in procession, begin 
to move toward the entrance of the Cathedral.^ 

CHAUCER 
\To Prioress.~\ 
Madame, will you walk in with me .-* 

PRIORESS 

Monsieur, 
If you will offer this at Thomas' shrine. 

CHAUCER 

Your brooch ! 

PRIORESS 

Our brooch. 



208 THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

CHAUCER 

When shall we meet again ? 

PRIORESS 
Do you forget our star ? 

CHAUCER 

Forget our star ! 
Not while the memory of beauty pains 
And Amor vincit omnia. 

\_The heralds blare their trumpets ; the priests swing their 
censers; the choir-boys ^ slowly enteri7ig the Cathedral, 
chant their hymn to St. Thomas, in which all the pil- 
grims join. Just as Chaucer and the Prioress are about 
to enter, the curtain falls.'] 

Explicit pars quarta. 
FINIS. 



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ADDENDA 

I. The accompanying reproduction of the original 
Hymn to St. Thomas, of which the last verse only is 
sung by the pilgrims in Act IV, is authentic in words 
and music. 

The author is sincerely indebted to Professor 
Kittredge, of Harvard University, for tracing and 
securing, through the various courtesies of Mr. 
Albert Matthews (of Boston), Mr. Frank Kidson (of 
Leeds), Mr. J. E. Matthew (of S. Hampstead, London), 
and Mr. Wilson (of the British Museum Library), 
a copy of this almost inaccessible document. 

The words are taken from Vol. 13, p. 240, of 
Dreves' "Collection of Sequences and Latin Hymns." 
The music is copied from the " Sarum Antiphonal " 

of 1519- 

In regard to the music, Mr. Wilson writes : " Each 
of these Antiphons {i.e. each verse of the hymn) is 
sung once before, and once after, each psalm. Here 
there are five ; and at the end of each is the catch- 
word of the psalm. The first is ' Dominus regnavit' ; 
the second, ^Jubilate,' and so on." 

Mr. J. E. Matthew writes : " The catchword is not 
sufficient, in every case, to identify the psalm, but I 
have indicated all the psalms having such beginnings.^ 

iThe psalms, as indicated by Mr. Matthew, are as follows: Be- 
ginning Deiis regnavit, xxiii, xcix ; Jubilate, c, Ixvi ; Deus, Deus, 
?neus, xxii, Ixiii ; Benedicite, The Song of the Three Children ? 
(Apocrypha.) Laudate, cxiii, cxvii, cxxxiv, cxlvii, cxlviii. 
p 209 



2IO THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 

The lines ' Gloria et honore coronasti,' etc. (part, of 
course, of the 8th Psalm : * Thou hast crowned him 
with glory and honour'), form no part of the service 
in the * Sarum Antiphonal.' " 

2. For valuable information and advice regarding 
the chronology of the " Canterbury Tales " as affect- 
ing this play, the author also gives sincere thanks to 
his friend, Mr. John S. P. Tatlock, of the University 
of Michigan. 

3. The following dates will reveal certain anach- 
ronisms in the text of his play, which the writer, for 
dramatic purposes, has ignored : — 

Oct. I, 1386: Chaucer was elected Knight of the 
Shire for Kent, which office he still held in 
April, 1387. 

Dec. 31, 1384: Wycliffe died. 

1386 : John of Gaunt left England for Castile. 

4. According to Chaucer scholars, the third wife 
of John of Gaunt was probably a sister of Chaucer's 
wife. Upon this probability, though it could not have 
been a fact until after 1387, the author bases his 
dramatic license of referring to Chaucer and the 
Duke of Lancaster as brothers-in-law. 

PERCY MACKAYE. 

New York, March, 1903. 



ULYSSES 

cA "DRAMA IN A "PROLOGUE AND THREE ACTS 

By STEPHEN PHILLIPS 

Author of " Paola and Francesca,''' " Herod,'' etc., etc. 

Cloth. i2mo. $1.25 net 



" Mr. Phillips' work stands well under analysis. There are 
many lines of rare beauty of conception and expression. . . . The 
heroic and impassioned speeches are deep-sounding and stirring, 
while in his tenderer moods the poet is idyllic in imagery, with- 
out descending to affectation." — Denver Republican. 

" He has the constructive faculty and the power of creating 
characters which Tennyson lacked; so that his plays can be 
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back to read our Dante, our Josephus, and our Homer, is no 
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— Boston Budget. 

" Its dramatic strength, its lyric beauty, and the broad sweep 
of imagination in some of the scenes, combine to make the poem 
a real addition to literature." — Denver Republican. 

" We recognize, throughout, a lofty beauty, a poetic air, a divine 
ardor. Moreover, the play is faultless in construction, its scenic 
effects are superbly varied, and its longer passages are of raptur- 
ing loveliness and power." — Louisville Evening Post. 



THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

66 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK 



BETHLEHEM 

A NATIVITY TLAY 
By LAURENCE HOUSMAN 

Perfor?ned with tmisic by Joseph Moorat, under the stage 
direction <?/* Edward Gordon Craig, December, jgos 

Cloth. i2mo. $1.25 net 



" It is well worth reading for its poetic as well as simple 
religious spirit, and deserves preservation on the bookshelf where 
rest the collections of the Mystery plays of four or five years 



ago." — Plain Dealer. 



" A beautiful and graceful representation of the events which 
the name suggests." — Worcester Spy. 

" Mr. Housman has made an admirable presentation." 

— Boston Budget. 

" It is direct and effective in its selections of incidents, devout 
in treatment, and well adapted for presentation by guilds and 
Sunday Schools." — Living Church. 



THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

66 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK 



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